Head of pre-army academy who slurred gays: Room for all in IDF

The head of a pre-army academy who referred to gays as “deviants” says there is room for all in the Israeli army and insists his words were misinterpreted.

“My words were interpreted by many in a way I did not intend, as though I am seeking to exclude some sector of the population from the army,” Rabbi Yigal Levinstein writes in a letter to Defense Ministry chief Udi Adam, according to Ynet.

“There is a place for everyone in the IDF, regardless of background, worldview or personal tendencies,” he says.

Adam summoned Levinstein to the Defense Ministry for clarification last week, after he was filmed telling a Jewish law convention that, “under the framework of pluralism, soldiers and officers are taught to refer to [LGBT people] as ‘proud,’ but I don’t dare call them that… ‘deviants’ is what I call them.”

The Defense Ministry department responsible for the pre-military academies issued a statement “vigorously condemning” the rabbi’s comments, and “demanded clarifications from the academy.”