Why are some communities within Israeli society intolerant of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness?

Israeli society consists of many communities that are intolerant of homosexuality and sexual permissiveness because of their religious beliefs and traditional values. Tel Aviv is the center of the Israeli LGTQ+ community, where individuals feel safe to hold hands and kiss their partners (Rosenthal, 359). By the late 1980s, laws were created to protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community. Although rights have been created to protect against discrimination to individuals with the LGBTQ+ community, there are still many who are very conservative. One of the narratives mentioned is the experience of Michal Eden telling her parents and siblings that she had a girlfriend. Her family responded by kicking her out and having her brother threatened to kill her. Many individuals fear to tell their families because they don’t want to face rejection from their families due to their families religious and traditional values (Rosenthal, 360).

Moreover, a second narrative is from Nurit, who lived in an Orthodox religious settlement describes in anger of what happened to her older brother after he was drafted. After her older brother was drafted, their parents were cleaning his room and found male porn. The parents confronted her older brother and told him that "being homosexual is against Judaism" (Rosenthal, 361). In the experience described by Nurit, it shows how religious beliefs played a crucial role in how the parents responded. The response from the parents connects to Leviticus 18:22 “thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind; it is an abomination.” In Arab culture, homosexuality remains as the love that shouldn’t be talked about (Rosenthal, 363). Omar, a baker from an all Muslim village, described how when he admitted to his mother that he was attracted to boys, she told him he could get rid of it by practicing Islam (Rosenthal 364). So, Omar would go to the Mosque and tried to pray at least once a week. The response that Omar’s mom gave him included religious beliefs that to get rid of his ‘condition’ he had to practice religion. In many Muslim countries, men that are caught engaging in homosexual acts can be jailed, tortured, or executed and all in the name of Islam (Rosenthal 365).

There have a been signs posted recently in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv area with offensive slogans that are anti-LGBTQ+. The slogans say “a mother and a father= a family. The courage to be normal”. These posters are stating that individuals that do not conform to societal norms are not normal; thus members of the LGBTQ+ are not normal according to this slogan. The organization behind those offensive slogans was a nonprofit organization called Gevanim, who organizes events for the Jewish public and Torah-based educational activities. The Hazon movement sponsored Gevanim. Several religious right and Ultra-Orthodox nationalist runs the Hazon movement. Being run by activists on the religious right and Ultra-Orthodox nationalist can imply that religious beliefs and traditional values will influence the movement. In the Central Bureau of Israel Statistics mentions how between the 1990 and 2008, the average age at marriage of men marrying for the first time rose from 26.3 to 27.5. and for women, it rose from 23.7 to 24.7. As it rises, the percentage of single people increases in younger age groups. In Israel, there are 1.75 million families, with an average of 3.8 people per family. The chart includes ten percent that is other, which can be regarding same-sex families with children.