Members of the Israeli Knesset's Ultra-Orthodox parties boycotted the swearing-in ceremony on Monday of new Likud MK Amir Ohana, the party's first openly gay lawmaker.
Amir Ohana takes the place of Interior Minister Silvan Shalom, who stepped down from public office last week following sexual assault allegations.
“I am here with all of who I am and what I am, what I’ve chosen and what I haven’t, and am proud of this: Jewish, Israeli, Mizrahi, gay, Likudnik, security-minded, liberal and a free-market-economy man,” Ohana said.
When people cry “Death to the Jews,” Ohana said, using the Arabic phrase, “I am a Jew first.
“When they shoot, boycott, label, and expel — I am a settler. When they try to blur cultures, to minimize and ignore — I am Mizrahi. When they defame IDF soldiers and security forces — I am a soldier,” said Ohana.
“When they stab to death a young woman in the parade of love and tolerance – I’m gay, a gay person who does not hope the day will come but gets up and supplies it," he said. "A gay person who understands that the flag we carry, lesbians and gay men, trans and bi, is the rainbow flag.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the ceremony and welcomed Ohana to the Knesset. Cont.
Story from i- 24 News
Image from - Pxabay
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