Rome Pride bars Jewish LGBT group for not ‘distancing itself’ from Gaza ‘genocide’ |
Rome Pride said Monday it had barred Italy’s only Jewish LGBTQ group from operating a float at its annual parade, saying Keshet failed to “distance itself” from what organizers called an “ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Groups that want to be formally recognized in the parade with a float must sign onto Rome Pride’s political platform, which includes a condemnation of the “genocide in Gaza.”
In an apparent attempt to reconcile with the policy, Keshet Italia issued a statement earlier this month that lamented the suffering of Palestinians, while insisting that it did not feel comfortable characterizing Israel’s war as a genocide.
Rome Pride organizers met with representatives from Keshet Italia and Keshet Europe earlier this week and subsequently issued a statement saying that “the conditions” did not exist for the Jewish groups to march with a float in the June 20 parade.
“Pride is an open and free demonstration. Anyone who shares the founding values of our movement and our community can join us in the streets. [Decisions about] the floats in the parade, however, are a prerogative — and above all a political responsibility — of the organizers,” the statement read.
The parade’s organizers insisted that they would demand the same condemnation from the organizers of any float — Jewish or otherwise — and said they were “fully capable of distinguishing between the Israeli government and the Jewish community.”
“We do, however, hold Keshet Italia responsible for having failed, and continuing to fail, to distance itself from the ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
Israel has strenuously objected to allegations of war crimes or genocide in its campaign against the Hamas terror........