Gay pride parade organizers met with Jerusalem Police representatives Monday morning in an effort to reach an agreement on the parade’s route. Police officials offered the Kiryat Haleom complex as a possible alternate venue, a proposal that was largely accepted by the Open House organization.
Consequently, Chief Justice Dorit Beinish said during a hearing on the matter that the sides will reach a final agreement on an alternative route later in the day, thus rendering the appeals submitted against the parade irrelevant.
The appeals, submitted by right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel are based on the police’s assumption that the parade, which is scheduled for this coming Friday, will lead to violence and should therefore be called off for the sake of “public safety.” The petitioners said that in case the parade is not canceled its route should at least be altered.
The High Court has ordered Attorney General Menachem Mazuz tosubmit by Tuesday his response to the appeals against the holding of the gay parade in Jerusalem.
The court has also instructed Jerusalem Police Chief Ilan Franco toattend Wednesday’s hearing on the matter to brief the court on any intelligence information that may pose a threat to the parade’s participants.
The High Court of Justice is now being asked to rule over the recent proverbial 'hot potato' which has already stirred the rage of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community who have took to the streets Sundaynight in yet another show of the same riots that the country has been watching for the past week. 20 police officers were injured on Sunday.
The decision facing Chief Justice Dorit Beinish and her colleagues is between the elementary right of homosexuals to free speech, and the haredi claim that the parade will damage privacy rights and Jewish values.