The leader of the Union of Right Wing Parties in Israel compared LGBTI people to dogs in an interview, before apologizing for the remarks.

Rabbi Rafi Peretz appeared on a Channel 12 news podcast when they began to discuss LGBTI people on Wednesday (7 March).

Petetz said while he didn’t mind people expressing their sexuality in private, he disagreed with public acts. Specifically, he appeared to refer to Prides.

He said: ‘The LGBT people want to live the way they want to, and I’m not going to tell them otherwise. But on the national level, attempting to change the character of the Jewish homeland, for a person who identifies as a religious Zionist like me, that’s inappropriate.

‘I don’t like dogs in my house. So what, does that mean I now need to have a march for them?

‘The public arena needs to be monitored, but when it’s in a private space it’s fine.’

However, before the podcast was broadcast, Peretz immediately issued an apology. He said he ‘chose [his] words poorly in a way that will likely hurt many people’.

He added: ‘I apologize from the bottom of my heart… I respect every person as an individual and do not wish to interfere with their private life.’

Peretz is the head of a group of three far-right wing parties within the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. The parties include his own Jewish Home, alongside National Union and extremist Otzma Yehudit.

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