Zini cancels Shin Bet Pride Month event, leaves LGBTQ group without budget – report

Shin Bet chief David Zini recently ordered the cancellation of a planned Pride Month event within the agency and blocked a series of related initiatives, effectively shutting down the organization’s LGBTQ employee group, Channel 12 reports.

According to the report, organizers were informed at an advanced stage of preparations that the event would not be approved. Sources familiar with the matter tell the network that the directive came from high up in the Shin Bet’s chain of command, allegedly from Zini, with no clear explanation for the decision.

Channel 12 says requests to display Pride-themed banners and screensavers, hang Pride flags at the event venue, produce event stickers and distribute LGBTQ-related content through Shin Bet systems were all denied. The report also claims that the agency’s human resources department was instructed to transfer the LGBTQ group’s budget into the Shin Bet’s general budget, leaving it with no dedicated funding.

The move has reportedly sparked criticism among some Shin Bet employees and LGBTQ rights advocates, who describe it as a departure from the values of equality and inclusion that the agency had promoted in recent years.

The Shin Bet declines to officially comment on the report, according to Channel 12.

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid slams Zini following the report.

“The conduct of Shin Bet chief Zini towards his gay service-people is a disgrace,” Lapid says in a statement. “Our LGBTQ service members are just as good as any other service member and save Israeli lives just like any other service member. I want to tell them today: We are proud of you and grateful to you. In the government we establish, there will be no place for such dark views in Israel’s public sphere.”