In Jerusalem, on December 29, Israeli democracy is swimming in the midst of a paradox. At the end of the morning, thousands of LGBT activists demonstrate in front of the Knesset (Parliament) while it prepares to invest the sixth government of Binyamin Netanyahu. Outside, sexual minorities are alarmed by the first homophobic statements by certain deputies of the right-wing and far-right coalition. At the same time, inside the hemicycle, Amir Ohana goes up to the podium. This 46-year-old lawyer, tenor of Likud (Netanyahu’s nationalist party) has just been elected president of the Knesset. In a moving investiture speech, he thanked his parents, his sister, his brother and… his “adored companion”, Alon, as well as their two children born to an American surrogate mother.
The parliamentarians listen with respect to the speech of Ohana, the first openly gay speaker of the Israeli parliament. Only a handful of Orthodox deputies – who adhere strictly to the precepts formulated in the Torah and the Talmud -, although members of the same coalition, ostensibly bow their heads. “What is he doing to us here?” reportedly gritted one of them, Meir Porush. “The attitude of the Orthodox deputies towards Ohana reflects their attitude towards homosexuality: they look away as if it does not exist, analyzes Imri Kalmann, former president of the Israeli association of LGBT. C It’s childish but, in a sense, they are progressing. A few years ago, they would have left the hemicycle.”
A singular journey is that of Amir Ohana, son of modest Moroccan immigrants who settled in Beer-Sheva, in the poor south of Israel. After his military service and six years at the Shin Beth, internal intelligence, Ohana joined the prestigious office of the State prosecutor. In 2015, he founded the first gay lobby within the Likud, which at the time was considered to be if not homophobic, at least disconnected from societal issues.
“You can be homosexual, Sephardic and right-wing”
In the middle of the election campaign, Ohana convinces Miri Regev, a close friend of Netanyahu, to participate in an election meeting at Evita, a famous gay bar in Tel Aviv. Without committing to same-sex marriage, Regev advocates equality before the law for same-sex couples. “The meeting had started in a tense atmosphere but Amir Ohana pulled it off: in the end the public was conquered, remembers journalist and gay activist Julien Bahloul. Through his personality and his career, he trivialized homosexuality. young people from modest cities in the south of the country, like him, now know that they can live their sexuality without hiding.And thanks to Ohana, the affiliation of the gay community to the left is no longer systematic: you can be homosexual , Sephardic and right-wing.
In fact, Ohana takes strong positions in the conflict with the Palestinians. To an American Jewess who questioned him about the violence of the Israeli strikes in Gaza, he said: “If I have the choice between losing your support and saving the life of a single Israeli, soldier or civilian, I choose without hesitation to You lose.” However, Ohana prefers to abstain when the left tries to legislate on homosexual marriage or surrogacy. “He never waved the flag of the homosexual cause, confirms Nathan Meshi, editor-in-chief of an Orthodox radio station in Bnei Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv. This moderation allows him to maintain excellent relations with rabbis and to be able to sit alongside the orthodox parties. He slipped a little in his inauguration speech, hence the outraged reaction of some MPs, but there is little chance that he will advance any pro-LGBT laws, the coalition is far too conservative.”
This restraint earned him his share of enmities in the LGBT community. At a recent demonstration in Tel Aviv, several activists played down the significance of his election. “For me, Ohana is ‘pink washing’, says Maya, a graphic designer. He won’t do anything for us.” Imri Kalmann, he wants to be more optimistic: “Basically, the laws will probably not change under this government but the essential lies in the symbol. With a homosexual president of the Knesset, we will no longer be able to close our eyes to our community.”