Israel's High Court Orders Government To Explain Its Inaction Against Top Rabbi's Hateful Remarks

 Times of Israel and Jerusalem Post report that on Tuesday Israel's Supreme Court, sitting as the High Court of Justice, issued a temporary injunction ordering the government to explain why it has not taken disciplinary action against Jerusalem's Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar for the severely derogatory remarks he has made about Reform Judaism, the LGBTQ community and the Women of the Wall Movement.  For example, Amar has blamed small earthquakes in Israel earlier this year on the LGBTQ community and has called Reform Jews "evil people who do every injustice ... against the Torah." Petitioners-- the Reform Movement, the Women of the Wall, and the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance-- say they have asked the government to take action 16 times in the last four years, but nothing was done.

Israel's Election Laws Require Advertising Companies to Sell Space For Objectionable Ads

In Israel yesterday, the Central Elections Committee, the body within the Knesset that enforces election laws, ruled that two major advertising companies in Israel cannot refuse to sell advertising space to Noam-- a far-right religious conservative party known for its opposition to gay rights.  As reported by the Times of Israel, the advertising companies-- which control large amounts of the billboard and bus advertising space-- objected to ads targeting gays and Reform Jews.  The ads read:

[Gay] pride and the buying of children, or having my son marry a woman – Israel chooses to be normal.

Reform [Judaism] or my grandson remains Jewish – Israel chooses to be normal.

Israel's 1959 Election Law (Publicizing Methods) prohibit companies selling election advertising from discriminating between political parties in any way. The Elections Committee's decision was handed down by Supreme Court Justice Neal Hendel.