JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel’s president on Sunday expressed concern for the rights of all members of the public, regardless of identity or values, after far-right members of the new government called for a review of anti-discrimination laws.
Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu, who is preparing to present his nationalist and religious coalition this week, has promised to preserve the principles of tolerance.
But his political rivals have accused the Tory leader of being vulnerable to the political demands of his far-right allies.
“A situation in which the citizens of Israel fear attacks against them because of their identity or their values goes against the fundamental democratic and ethical principles of Israel,” President Isaac Herzog wrote on Twitter. whose role is largely symbolic.
Benjamin Netanyahu, however, said twice on Sunday that his government would safeguard equal rights.
“We will not allow discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community or the infringement of the rights of any other citizen of Israel,” he said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, an Israeli lawmaker from the right-wing Religious Zionism party told state radio that doctors should be allowed to refuse to treat people on religious grounds, as long as others are available.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s conservative Likud and religious nationalist parties close to Israel’s ultra-Orthodox and West Bank settler communities won a comfortable majority in the Nov. 1 election.
(Report Emily Rose; French version Kate Entringer)
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