Today, Thursday, the city of Jerusalem witnessed the organization of a “Pride March” in support of the rights of the LGBT community in Israel, under the slogan “We Demand Change,” amid tight security measures and a widespread deployment of police officers, in conjunction with a counter-protest movement organized by parties opposed to the march.
According to the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper, thousands of participants gathered in Saker Park, before the march began towards the Rose Garden near the Knesset, on a path different from the traditional path it had taken in previous years, in coordination with the Jerusalem Brigade of the Israeli Police.
On the other hand, members of the far-right “Lehiva” organization demonstrated against the march inside a closed complex in the Saker Park area, while the police worked to separate the march participants from those who opposed it, to avoid any field friction.
Political and municipal figures participated in the opening platform, including opposition leader Yair Lapid, Knesset member Naama Lazimi, Deputy Mayor of Jerusalem Yossi Hafilio, the city’s opposition leader and head of the “Awakening” movement Adir Schwarz, along with a number of participants and activists.
The Israeli police prepared for the march with reinforced forces, which included hundreds of members of the Jerusalem Brigade, in addition to Qatari support forces, members of the border guards and other security units, in light of the sensitivity of the event and its location in the city of Jerusalem.
Lapid said during his participation that the march is not only an occasion to celebrate, but also to carry a political and social message, pledging that if a new government is formed, within the first 100 days, legislation will be passed that equalizes the rights of all couples in Israel, whether they are a man and a woman, or two men, or two women, he said.
Lapid considered that the struggle of the LGBT community in Israel is, as he put it, a struggle for freedom, love, and democracy, and for a religious and social approach that is not based on hatred, but rather on accepting difference.
In a parallel security development, the Fike Reporter organization announced that a leaflet containing threats against participants in the march led to the arrest of an 18-year-old young man from Haifa, while the police confirmed continuing their measures to secure the event and prevent any tension.
The Pride Parade in Jerusalem is considered one of the most sensitive social and political events in Israel, given the religious and political character of the city, and the division it raises annually between supporters who consider it a station for demanding equality and civil rights, and opponents who refuse to organize it in Jerusalem for religious and ideological reasons.
This year’s march also comes amid a tense internal political climate in Israel, where issues of civil rights and individual freedoms overlap with partisan and social divisions, especially in light of the increasing role of right-wing and religious parties in political life, versus the opposition’s movements to present itself as a force defending freedoms and equality before the law.
