Chief Rabbi believes ‘disgusting’ homosexuality will ‘wane and disappear’
The Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem, Shlomo Amar, has said he believes homosexuality will “disappear” because Jerusalem is “disgusted” by it.
Shlomo Amar hit out at the LGBT community during an interview with the ultra-Orthodox website Behadrey Haredim, Ha’aretz reported.
He said: “I believe that this phenomenon [homosexuality] will wane and disappear, because most of the public is disgusted by it and detest it.”
His remarks come just months after the murder of 16-year-old Shira Banki at Jerusalem’s Pride parade this year.
She was killed by Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man with previous convictions for anti-gay attacks, who wounded five others during his stabbing rampage.
The former Chief Rabbi of Israel did, however, express his disapproval of the violent murder, which he called a “terrible act of blood-letting”, saying:
“Sometimes, when we fight with force, we achieve the opposite of what we intended” before admitting, “there is no justification for what he [Yishai Schlissel] did.”
Despite these comments, the rabbi vowed to keep the fight going against the LGBT community in Jerusalem saying of homosexuality: “It’s not natural, not normal.
“The Torah called it an abomination and we certainly need to find more considered ways of fighting it.”
Rabbi Amar has previously protested against Jerusalem’s pride march and has said the “evil parade” is a threat to Israel’s survival.
