Israeli MP blames gays for recent earthquakes
February 21, 2008
An Israeli parliamentarian said that several earthquakes felt in Israel recently were a consequence of gays and the parliament's acceptance of them.
Shlomo Benizri of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the way to stop the tremors was for parliament to reverse its trend of liberalising laws concerning homosexuals.
Two quakes originating in neighbouring Lebanon shook much of Israel last week, the first coming two days after Israel's attorney-general ruled that same-sex couples could adopt children.
During two weeks in November and December, four earthquakes shook parts of Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian territories.
None of the tremors caused any serious injuries or major damage.
"Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset (parliament) gives legitimacy, to sodomy," Benizri said during a parliamentary debate on earthquake preparedness.
A cost-effective way of averting earthquake damage, he added, would be to stop "passing legislation on how to encourage homosexual activity in the state of Israel, which anyway brings about earthquakes".
Representatives of Shas have issued statements in the past that other Israelis found outrageous, like blaming a 1985 train-bus accident that killed 22, most of them children, on failure of Israelis to follow Jewish ritual.
The adoption decision by Attorney-General Meni Mazuz, announced last Sunday, follows other successes for Israeli gays, which have outraged religious conservatives.
Court decisions in recent years have forced the government to recognise same-sex marriages performed abroad and grant gay couples inheritance rights and benefits given to other married Israelis.
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