Education Minister Rafi Peretz responds Sunday to widespread outrage caused by his remark a day earlier that gay conversion therapy works and that he in the past sent pupils to undergo them.
In a lengthy Facebook post, Peretz claims his words had been distorted and taken out of context, accusing his critics of making “cynical use” of the upcoming Knesset elections and seeking to “make political gains at the expense of the LGBT community.”
“Since I entered politics I learned that there is freedom of speech for one sort of remark, and freedom of incitement against those who detail a different view,” he wrote.
Peretz says that during the lengthy interview he had sought to express a nuanced view regarding the LGBT community, and that the headline “did not match reality.”
He says he had expressed his educational vision of loving and respecting everyone, including members of the LGBT community.
“When I was specifically asked about conversion therapy, I said from my own experience only that when students contacted me and asked for guidance I referred them to professional officials at their request and saw it was possible. I did not say I support conversion therapy.”
“I believe that most of those who heard about the interview didn’t watch it. The responses distorted my words, using cheap populism that further deepens the rift in Israeli society and I regret that,” he said.
“It isn’t my statement that they attack, but who and what I represent,” he charged. “There is a struggle over the right to think differently.”
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