Current Affairs

Israeli Pride parade cancelled after high court ruling

Jul 14 2016
Written by Kaitlyn Hayes

Illustrated rainbow pride flag on a white background.

The first Pride parade in the Israeli city of Be’er Sheva has been cancelled after a high court ruling.

The first Pride parade to be held in the southern Israeli city of Be’er Sheva has been cancelled by event organisers after the supreme court ruled the parade’s route had to be changed.

Organisers sought to march down a main thoroughfare in the city today, but the court suggested the event be moved to an alternative route after police intelligence assessments indicated the possibility of life-threatening violence against participants.

It also added that some of the event’s participants could contribute to the violence in an effort to defend themselves.

The Be’er Sheva’s Pride House and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the parade’s organisers, declined to move the route, saying that would “hide” them, and instead will be holding a protest in the city.

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“It is not logical to relegate the gay community to a pride parade on a side route and not on the city’s main streets,” organisers added.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said in a statement that “if there are threats, the police need to deal with them, whether on side streets or main streets.”

The court rejected a petition filed by the two non-profit organisations saying the intelligence report presented by police was “credible”.

Zehava Gal-On, an Israeli politician, has condemned the court ruling and told the Jerusalem Post that “the attempt of the police and the municipality of Beersheba to hide the gay pride parade is low and shameful.”

Last year, a number of police officers in Jerusalem were reprimanded after a known extremist went on a stabbing rampage that killed a teenage girl at the city’s Pride parade.