GLBT seeks police action against anti-gay Facebook group

A group titled "I hate gays too" (in Hebrew) was recently opened on Facebook, and although it only managed to attract 167 members, Israeli gays and lesbians are demanding that the police arrest those who are behind the group.

The group has in the meantime been removed from the popular social network.

"If you too want to kill every gay person you hear about," said the opening text on the group's page, "if you too don't care about what happened on Saturday (the deadly shooting at a gay youth center in Tel Aviv), if you too think gays should not take pride in their sexual perversion, if you too are sick and tired of watching them parade in Jerusalem, join this group and perhaps we will be able to silence all the gays in this country."

The hate group on Facebook

The Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association (GLBT Israel) has filed a complaint with the police against the group's founder.

GLBT Israel's Spokesman Itzik Srur said Wednesday: "Last nigh we received an invitation to join the group on Facebook, and this is actually how we found out about it. It contains hate slogans, and one of the members even said he committed the Tel Aviv shooting."

Srur added that some of the members' full personal details have been published on the website. "We expect the police to find these people and arrest them," he stated.

The group's founder initially denied his involvement in the groups, but later issued an apology.

However, this was not enough for infuriated gays and their supporters. On Wednesday a call was circulated on Facebook containing the group members' personal information, addresses and military background and urging people who know them to report them to their army commanders. The members were referred to in the message as "young Judo-Nazis."