Arab City March
Arab City MarchIsrael news photo: (file)

MK Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) has called for Jews to march in Israeli-Arab cities in response to the homosexual parade scheduled for this Thursday in Jerusalem.

The so-called gay pride parade in Jerusalem has become an annual source of controversy in the summer in Israel. Homosexuals claim the right to march freely in Israel's capital, whereas many people believe the holy city is not the proper venue for such a demonstration.

Ben-Ari this year has proposed a new way to protest the parade, and says that in addition to traditional demonstrations, Jews should object by exercising their right to demonstrate in Arab-Israeli cities throughout the country.

“There must be one law for everyone,” Ben-Ari said. “The right to march cannot be just for left-wing radicals. It is our right to march, to document illegal construction in Arab cities and to parade with Israeli flags.”

Ben-Ari’s parliamentary assistants, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel, spearheaded an initiative to hold an Israeli flag-waving march in the Israeli-Arab city Umm el-Fahm earlier in the year. The Supreme Court ordered the police on two separate occasions to allow the controversial march to take place.

The activists eventually marched in Umm el-Fahm with a limit of 50 participants on the edge of the city. They say that now they have set their sights on similar marches in Israeli-Arab cities Taibe, Kfar Lakiya, Nazareth, Abu Rukik, Abu Isa, Irara, Baka el-Arabiya, and Musraifa.

“The Supreme Court justices have emphasized that with regard to the gay pride parade, the marchers should not pass through the middle of the city in order to balance the interests of the parties,” the activists said.

“This year, the police have taken the unprecedented step of allowing the parade to take place in the center of the city,” they pointed out. “We will use this precedent to call for our marches to take place in the center of Arab cities,” the activists promised.