Nowadays
Today, Israel's Labor Party and the New Movement-Meretz support gay rights, as did the now-defunct Shinui. Under Tzipi Livni, Kadima has reached out to the gay community. Other minor liberal or progressive political parties support a similar platform as well, including the Green Party and the Green Leaf Party.
On October 22, 2002, Meretz MK Uzi Even made history by becoming the first openly gay Member of Knesset. The only other openly gay MK is Nitzan Horowitz, also from Meretz.
Nevertheless, there still have been anti-gay politicians. In 1997, President Ezer Weizman compared homosexuality to alcoholism in front of high school students. This provoked major controversy and the President received numerous calls from civil rights activists and liberal Knesset members. Shortly following, 300 people demonstrated outside of Weizman's residence, demanding his resignation.
On February 20, 2008, Shlomo Benizri, a Knesset member from the religious Shas party, a member of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's ruling coalition, blamed earthquakes that had recently struck the Middle East on the activities of homosexuals. Benizri said in a Knesset plenary session, ""Why do earthquakes happen? .. One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset gives legitimacy, to sodomy." He recommended that instead of merely reinforcing buildings to withstand earthquakes, the government should pass legislation to outlaw "perversions like adoptions by lesbian couples." Benizri stated that "A cost-effective way of averting earthquake damage would be to stop passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the State of Israel, which anyways causes earthquakes."
Read more about this topic: LGBT Rights In Israel, LGBT in Israeli Society, LGBT in Israeli Politics
Famous quotes containing the word nowadays:
“Cautiousness in judgment is nowadays to be recommended to each and every one: if we gained only one incontestable truth every ten years from each of our philosophical writers the harvest we reaped would be sufficient.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“Lincoln said, “With malice toward none and with charity to all.” Nowadays they say, “Think the way I do or I’ll bomb the daylights out of you.””
—Robert Riskin (1897–1955)
“Murderous desire, hatred, distrust are nowadays the accompanying signs of physical illness: so thoroughly have we embodied our moral prejudices.—Perhaps cowardice and pity appear as symptoms of illness in savage ages. Perhaps even virtues might be symptoms.”
—Friedrich Nietzsche (1844–1900)