LGBT groups put protest on hold ahead of Jerusalem Pride Parade

LGBT organizations announced Monday they were calling off a planned protest, fearing it would detract from the Jerusalem Pride Parade set for later in the week, which they expect to be the largest the city has ever seen in the wake of widespread anger over a law that bars gay men from surrogacy parenthood rights.

“The LGBT community organizations have decided at this stage to focus our efforts of the Pride and Tolerance Parade in Jerusalem which is expected to be the largest ever held in the city and delay our protest,” Aguda, Israel’s umbrella organization for the LGBT community, said in a statement.

The Jerusalem march, set for Thursday, comes after some 100,000 people packed into Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square last week to protest the exclusion of single men from the surrogacy law, which has drawn accusations of LGBT discrimination in the Jewish state.

The statement said they had decided to cancel the protest, fearing it would divert resources and attention from the march in Jerusalem, a conservative and religious city, which has been marred by violence in previous years. It was unclear when the protest had originally been planned for.

Instead, they would drive a convoy to from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the day of the march, Aguda said, adding that they had police permission to do so. Read more via Times of Israel