In a rare appearance in the Israeli legislature, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed support for the LGBT community during the Knesset's first designated LGBT Rights Day last week.
Addressing the plenum, Netanyahu said: "I know that there were important and lengthy discussions today, and I came here in the middle of my schedule, which was no less busy, to say one sentence to the members of the LGBT community: Every man was created in the image of God. That is the idea brought by our nation to mankind thousands of years ago, and it is the principle that must guide our national lives today."
MK Amir Ohana, the first gay lawmaker from centre-Likud, said the LGBT community, which reportedly comprised 10 percent of the Israeli population, is discriminated against because "they cannot get married in their country, bring children into the world (via surrogacy) in their country, be their partners' heir if he or she dies and not because they are hostile to the state, do not serve in the army or pay taxes, rather because they are gay or lesbian,'' the Jerusalem Post reported.
Ohana also compared the LGBT community to the Jewish people, who were "hated for no reason, persecuted, discriminated against and faced forced conversion."
"What did they do wrong that so many people hate them, sometimes to death?" he asked.
MK Merav Michaeli of the Zionist Union, meanwhile, said while the holding of the event is welcomed by homosexuals, she is dismayed that the Knesset was not able to pass any new law promoting LGBT rights.
"This House still insists on turning its back on the gay community," she said. "This government and coalition consider it fate that parts of it cannot accept the community and denounce it... The coalition dances to [the ultra-Orthodox parties'] tune."
The Knesset committee meetings on gay rights tackled several topics, including a proposal to enlist 18 year-olds without regard to sexual orientation in the military.
Yoav Kisch, subcommittee chair from Likud party, urged the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) to hold more workshops on the subject for commanders and to improve its work to integrate transgender soldiers.
"I was glad to hear the conditions in the army are good [for members of the LGBT community], as it should be," Kisch said. "At the same time... the improvements must continue."
Kisch stressed that the "IDF is the army of the people and everyone must feel comfortable and certainly not have concerns based on their gender identity."
