From the Liveblog of
Friday, June 26, 2026
Hundreds attend Pride parade in flashpoint southern town of Mitzpe Ramon: ‘Here to stay’
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleHundreds of people attend the sixth annual Pride parade in the small southern town of Mitzpe Ramon, where a conservative religious group with ties to the local leadership posted anti-LGBTQ propaganda ahead of the march.
Footage from the parade, which takes place under heavy security, shows dozens of marchers clad in pink chanting, “here to stay.”
The parade draws several opposition lawmakers and primary candidates from the left-leaning Democrats party.
“We won’t leave any city or child behind,” writes Democrats MK Naama Lazimi on X. “We’ll keep fighting for real education and equality all over the country.”
טוב בן קוויר מבן גביר (הכלב) !
דש ממצעד הגאווה המרגש במצפה רמון. @itamarbengvir יא כלום ושום דבר. תענוג איך השוטרים שלך פה שומרים עלינו וזורמים יפה עם חולצות פאק בן גביר ומלא שלטים שמזכירים לכל העיירה איזה אפס אתה. #מצעד_הגאווה_מצפה_רמון pic.twitter.com/w4fyIMpvQw— Avi Blecherman ???????? (@AviBlecherman) June 26, 2026
Michal Romi, one of the organizers of the Mitzpe Ramon parade, said in a column on the Mako news site yesterday that, despite hostility from the local government, “we’re still here, trying to live our life, and reminding that if freedom disappears in Mitzpe Ramon, then Tel Aviv is also in danger.”
She tells the Ynet news site today that the local religious community launched a campaign this morning “to intimidate the LGBTQ community” this morning with anti-LGBTQ messages posted across the town.
Photos from the town of about 5,800 show banners and flyers extolling traditional families, and reading “family wins” and “there is no pride without family” against a silhouette of a traditional family and an Israeli flag.
The material is promoted by and bears the insignia of Bocharim BaMishpacha (Choosing Family), a conservative Zionist religious group supported by prominent arch-conservative rabbi Zvi Tau, the spiritual leader of the anti-LGBTQ Noam party.
מצפה רמון.
גאווה. יהודית. pic.twitter.com/NW4akbetCD— בוחרים במשפחה (@mishpach) June 26, 2026
Tau’s disciple Rabbi Zvi Kostiner, another prominent backer of the party, heads Mitzpe Ramon’s Midbara K’Eden yeshiva, among the largest yeshivas in Israel that are aligned with Tau.
The yeshiva, founded in 1999, is at the locus of the town’s religious community. A graduate, Eliya Winter, became local council head in 2024.
Without mentioning the anti-Pride fliers and banners, Winter writes on Facebook today that, “for the entire past month, there have been efforts by irresponsible parties to cause tension. The media, thirsty for a juicy story about communities fighting in Mitzpe Ramon, was listening constantly, but to its dismay it did not get what it wanted.”
Kostiner, the rosh yeshiva, sparked controversy when, amid his community’s efforts to scrap the parade’s 2022 edition, he told students, “don’t be shy, be brave, wherever you work, say: ‘Go home LGBTQ, go home gays’.”
Police at the time planned to move the parade to the outskirts of Mitzpe Ramon, citing security concerns, but the High Court, responding to petitions by the LGBTQ community, ordered the parade to be held on its original path.
The Times of Israel Community.