J M
- He was also accused of violating his own guidelines on social distancing.
An article in The Times of Israel has accused the country’s health minister of violating his own guidelines on social distancing and continued to attend prayer services.
Yaakov Litzman is not only a health minister but also a member of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party. Witnesses said that they have seen him praying at the home of another member three days after indoor services were supposedly banned. He was also allegedly attending services at a synagogue near his home.
The minister and his wife have now tested positive for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) which sent his recent contacts, including Israel’s prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu and more government officials, into self-isolation for 15 days.
Litzman denied all the accusations of him breaking the guidelines he set.
It can be remembered that in 2016, he voted against same-sex unions, same-sex couples adopting, educating health professionals about gender identity and sexual orientation, prohibiting conversion therapy, and more bills against the discrimination of the rights of the LGBTQ+ community.
He also said that the LGBTQ+ people are “sinners” and compared them to Israelites in the Bible worshipping the golden calf.
“Yaakov Litzman, who is so afraid of the words ‘gender identity’ that he threatens to break up the coalition if they enter the law books under his watch,” said David Bitton, a successful lawyer in Israel.
Last month, an Orthodox rabbi claimed that the COVID-19 pandemic was a divine punishment from God because of the Pride Parades.
