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Wednesday June 18, 2008


     

Leading Jewish Rabbi on a Mission to Stop Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade

Rabbi Levin believes that the key to success is for the Vatican to speak out strongly in opposition to the homosexual parade and "for all the religions to unite in defense against the attacks from the homosexual network."

By Tim Waggoner

JERUSALEM, June 18, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Rabbi Yehuda Levin, Special Emissary of the Rabbinical Alliance of America, who represents over 1,000 Orthodox Rabbis in the United States, has informed LifeSiteNews that he is in Jerusalem on a special mission - to "stop the desecration of the Holy City by homosexual activists, who insist on having a public parade to celebrate depravity through the city streets."  

Rabbi Levin says he believes that the key to the success of his mission is for the Vatican to speak out strongly in opposition to the homosexual parade and "for all the religions to unite in defense against the attacks from the homosexual network."

Rabbi Levin has been one of the Culture of Life's greatest advocates and has been named one of the ten most influential personalities by the magazine Inside the Vatican.

In an interview with LifeSiteNews, Rabbi Levin explained what should be done to "stop the homosexualization of the Holy Land."

He first pointed to a 2006 international and interreligious conference, during which Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the then-Apostolic Nuncio to Israel, signed an agreement with the Chief Rabbinate's office stating they would work together to prevent any distasteful public displays and parades that would deeply offend people of the Christian, Jewish, and Islamic faiths, who revere Jerusalem as a Holy City.

The new Apostolic Nuncio of Israel, Archbishop Antonio Franco, again honored this agreement later in 2006, after Rabbi Levin had a meeting with him to discuss the agreement.

"He was extremely warm and very interested in helping with the issue," explained Rabbi Levin.

Archbishop Franco wasted little time demonstrating his opposition to the homosexual parade in Jerusalem.  Not only did he speak out against the parade, Franco visited the mayor of Jerusalem to request the parade be cancelled.  He didn't stop there, however.  A few days later he sat in on a sub-committee hearing of the Israeli parliament and voiced his opposition to the parade.

Despite these efforts, which Rabbi Levin says he was very impressed by, the Rabbi believes more needs to be done.  "The problem is that support for the parade is getting stronger and it is coming from more places. One year ago the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that homosexuals have the right to march in Jerusalem no matter how offensive this is to religious people of all faiths," explained the rabbi.

Rabbi Levin is now invoking the Vatican to speak out strongly against the homosexual parade.

"We request that the Vatican not only honor the letter of the agreement, but also, and more importantly, the spirit of the agreement, in order to do the right thing for the Holy Land," said Rabbi Levin.

He also expressed the importance of doing so with "strong, undiplomatic" language.

"Speak out not in politically diplomatic terms but in strong undiplomatic terms, and speak out how negative this parade is in the Holy Land and how it is negative to all believers, whether Christian, Muslim or Jewish.  Condemn the parade in the strongest possible language," exclaimed Rabbi Levin.

The rabbi is also requesting the Vatican to "go to the President of Israel, who would be quite impressed given a request by the Vatican to do something about this parade and show how offensive it is."

The rabbi explained that during his political campaign, President Shimon Peres, needing the support of a religious party, had signed a petition with the Shas religious party, pledging his opposition to the homosexual parade.

Rabbi Levin has contacted two prominent members of the Catholic Church in an attempt to have these requests met.

"I am reaching out to the Vatican and, specifically, to Father Peter Gumpel, to assist in the effort to ban these Gay desecrations of the Holy City of Jerusalem." Fr. Grumpel, a Jesuit, is considered one of the Vatican's leading intellectuals.

The rabbi also contacted Archbishop Pietro Sambi, who is now the Apostolic Nuncio of the U.S., to request he honor the agreement he signed.

Rabbi Levin concluded by expressing the need for all faiths to combat not only the homosexualization of Jerusalem, but of the world.

The rabbi explained that after a meeting with the Pope, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia spoke on the importance of "interreligious dialogue" between the three states: Christianity, Judaism and Islam.  Rabbi Levin said, "This indicates the possibility of finding commonality of values between faiths."

"This is a win-win situation. The Muslim world is strongly against the homosexualization of the Holy Land and the Middle East, and this view is, and should be shared with Christians and Jews."

In closing, Rabbi Levin reiterated this request: "I represent the Rabbinical Alliance of America, which includes over 1000 orthodox rabbis. We are requesting the Vatican to come out with a strong statement to specifically address and advance the dialogue that the King of Saudi Arabia is suggesting in the aftermath of a meeting with the Pope."

"This is a natural progression and we [the three states] need to reach this issue now and all stick together against the homosexualization of the Holy Land, and say this must be stopped.  The major religions and the faithful around the world can advance this dialogue in a prominent and positive way and create a buzz here," he concluded.

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

International Religious Outcry Close to Booting Gay Pride from Holy City of Jerusalem
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/jul/06070702.html

Jerusalem Gay Pride Set for September 21
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082902.html

Jerusalem Loses Battle to Ban Gay Pride Parade—Court-Ordered Date Set for November 10
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091904.html

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