Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz published a post on Facebook following the storm he aroused by expressing support for conversion therapy for same-sex attraction (SSA).
"The most comfortable thing is to swim with the stream and shout along with everyone. Learn that there are other, complex, but acceptable voices, and that accepting The Other is not the exclusive property of one side. I haven't forced and I do not intend to impose anything on anyone. As Minister of the Israeli education system, I will continue to take care of all the boys and girls of Israel wherever they are, without any differences of sexual orientation," he wrote.
"Do not be confused: It isn't my statement that they attack, but rather who I represent and what I represent. There is a struggle here for the right to think differently, and it turns out that the Education Minister in Israel may not **think** differently [emphasis Peretz'] and that there's only one camp that raises the banner of free speech.
"There's cynical exploitation of the election campaign, which seeks to make political capital on the backs of the gay community. Whoever says I'm from the Dark Ages is trying to extinguish the light of free choice. Anyone who thinks we're spineless and we mustn't say the truth of our lives, politely and respect for all, will find religious Zionism as strong and as it always was. This is my Beit Midrash. This is the religious Zionism I lead."