Jerusalem – The frequently controversial haredi leader Rabbi Meir Mazuz said on Sunday at an event commemorating a month since Eitam and Naama Henkin were killed in a terror attack that the murders came about as a punishment due to the gay pride parade in Jerusalem this year.
“This pride march, what pride? Pride to wage war against the Torah, pride to wage war against creation, pride to wage war against God? For this the punishment came,” said Mazuz at the Jerusalem Ramada hotel to an audience of several hundred people, Walla news website reported.
Mazuz is the dean of the Kiseh Rahamim yeshiva in Bnei Brak and the spiritual patron of Shas renegade Eli Yishai and his Yahad movement.
The rabbi said that efforts must be taken to “warn and educate are children not to look at forbidden things, not to look at things that call an upheaval of the soul.”
Mazuz is not the first rabbi who has spoken out against the gay pride parade in Jerusalem. Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Shlomo Amar said in September that the public was “disgusted and sick” of homosexuality, although he condemned the murder of Shira Banki by Yishai Shlissel at the parade in July.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Aryeh Stern has also said that “immodest” rallies should be avoided to preserve the holiness of Jerusalem.
At the same event Sunday night, Mazuz said that visiting the Temple Mount should be avoided because “we must be careful provoking the nations of the world.”
Last week, Mazuz said surprisingly that it in certain circumstances it is permitted to visit the Temple Mount, provided the correct preparations are taken in accordance with Jewish law, but said that doing so could be problematic.
The issue of visiting the Temple Mount became a serious stumbling block for Yishai’s Yahad party in the last elections when he sought to join with the far right Otzmah Yehudit party whose members are strong supporters of Jewish prayer rights and sovereignty over the Temple Mount.
Yishai’s colleague in Yahad Yoni Chetboun, following the advice from his spiritual mentor Rabbi Tzvi Tau, president of the very Har Hamor Yeshiva, refused to unite with Otzmah until a compromise was found on the issue.
As reported by Vos Iz Neias