Opponents of
WorldPride call for death to gays

Handbills appeared around Jerusalem on Tuesday denouncing the WorldPride parade scheduled for next month and offering a bounty to anyone who kills gay people. Incitement of antigay sentiment has escalated in Jerusalem, while the local police have not announced yet whether they will permit the seven-day WorldPride event, which is scheduled to begin August 6.

Hundreds of leaflets, advocating "death to Sodomites," were distributed in mailboxes around the city. The leaflets promised $4,500 to "anyone who brings about the death of one of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah."

The leaflet also suggested using Molotov cocktails against gay marchers and includes instructions on how to make them at home. The explosives are nicknamed the "Schlissel Special" in honor of the religious protester who stabbed three gay pride marchers in Jerusalem last year.

Rabbis and leaders of the Jewish ultra-Orthodox population have said it was not their people behind the leaflet, claiming the styling and language clearly indicate it was a provocation from outside their community. Some claimed it was gay activists who issued it.

Meanwhile, Israeli state television reported on Tuesday that ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Jerusalem have called on the local police not to allow a gay pride parade, warning that such an event would lead to bloodshed. An official posting on bulletin boards against the event, signed by ultra-Orthodox rabbis, said, "Anyone with the ability to do so, has the duty to do everything he can, to smash the jaws of evil in any way he can." (Sirius/OutQ News)