Ahead of Jerusalem pride parade, Rivlin urges end to anti-LGBT incitement

President Reuven Rivlin on Sunday called for an end to incitement against the gay community in Israel, days before Jerusalem’s annual pride parade that last year saw a deadly attack on its marchers.

The president also met with the family of Shira Banki, the 16-year-old girl stabbed to death by an ultra-Orthodox man in last year’s march, as well as leaders of the capital’s gay and lesbian community.

“Shira was murdered for the right of every woman and man to express themselves and their sexuality freely,” Rivlin said. With her murder, “beauty and innocence were slain on the altar of hatred.”

“Incitement against the LGBT community, and all support that that incitement receives, must stop,” he said ahead of this week’s march through central Jerusalem. He said that recent anti-gay remarks by prominent rabbis, including the nominee for IDF chief rabbi, “hurt him deeply.”

The 15th Jerusalem Pride March, which is being held in Banki’s memory, is scheduled to take place on July 21. The march is produced by the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, a non-profit organization for the LGBTQ community of Jerusalem and surrounding areas.

Meretz party MK Michal Rozin called on Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan to take every action necessary to protect the participants in this year’s march, in light of a plan by the far-right Lehava organization to demonstrate against it.

Lehava leader Bentzi Gopstein wrote on Facebook at the weekend that “on Thursday all of society’s filth will appear, the bottom of the barrel of humanity, whose sole aim is to spread their filth and defile the holy city,” referring to the pride parade.

The Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance filed a complaint with the police Sunday against Gopstein for his remarks.

Banki’s parents last week called on the public to participate in this year’s march.

“After Shira’s murder, there were many voices saying that even though they don’t agree with the way of life LGBTQ community members live, and moreover they resist the concept of the Jerusalem Pride March, they still cannot accept violence as a legitimate demonstration of disagreement,” Ori and Mika Banki wrote in a Facebook post last week.

“To all of these voices, and everyone who feels and thinks that way — we expect to see you march this year and in the years to come,” they wrote.

“Marching on Jerusalem’s Pride March is not just about showing support to the LGBTQ community; it is also about supporting ideas of tolerance and equality for all. To us, it also means standing in resistance to violence as a way of solving any dispute or argument,” the Bankis wrote.

“Shira was not a LGBTQ community member — she believed that every human being has a right to be treated like one, no matter his or her sexual orientation. We all deserve to be treated respectfully, certainly not with violence or disrespect,” the post said.