Jewish extremist group allegedly planning to disrupt Pride event wearing ‘ridiculous hats’ to blend in
Tel Aviv Pride 2019 in Israel. (Amir Levy/Getty)
A Jewish extremist group said to be planning to infiltrate a Pride event has reportedly instructed its members on how to blend in – and ‘ridiculous hats’ are strongly encouraged.
The far-right group Lehava allegedly directed its supporters to attend an LGBT+ rally at the Jerusalem Open House on Sunday (June 27), mingle with the crowd, then raise their own signs to disrupt the proceedings.
Ahead of the event the group has published a special pamphlet detailing how to go undercover by acting “like an LGBT person,” Channel 12 News reported on Thursday.
It lists several categories, including dress code, behaviour patterns and “LGBT language (Dictionary)”.
“In order to blend into the crowd, you must dress like an LGBT person,” the pamphlet begins. According to Lehava, this includes dressing in bright, immodest clothing.
If undercover agents wear religious head coverings like kippahs, they can easily conceal this by wearing “colourful, strange, ridiculous hats (like hats for Purim costumes).”
The guide also advises “a combination of extreme colours in shorts and pants, such as pink, green, purple, gold,” The Times of Israel reports.
Under the behaviour section, it advises “extroverted body movements such as ‘talking with the hands.'”
“Pay attention! They tend to express themselves with long handshakes or hugs, be careful and stay away,” it says, adding that infiltrators should speak loudly to better blend in.
“There should be no usage of quiet voice while you’re around this community,” it warns.
Israeli policemen arrest an ultra-Orthodox Jewish man at Jerusalem Pride in 2015 (Lior Mizrahi/Getty)
The event will be secured by more than 1,200 police officers. Three Lehava activists were already arrested in the early hours of Sunday morning on suspicion of planning to disrupt the event.
One of the detainees was named in Hebrew media reports as Moshe Ben Zikri, a man who previously disguised himself as a member of the LGBT+ community for two years so that he could enter the 2019 Jerusalem Pride parade and climb on the podium. He didn’t succeed.
