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Will Israel's religious right stand for conversion therapy for gays?

The statement by United Right party head Rafi Peretz on conversion therapy for gays generated harsh reactions also from within his own political camp.
Israel's Education minister Rafi Peretz arrives to attend the weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem June 24, 2019. Menahem Kahana/Pool via REUTERS - RC17F0C591D0
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In political jargon, the recent comments by Education Minister Rabbi Rafi Peretz are referred to as an “electoral terror attack” — a slip of the tongue or troubling remark during an election campaign that generates an uproar and is potentially damaging to a candidate and his party. This best describes the July 13 TV interview in which Peretz, leader of the United Right party, expressed support for gay “conversion therapies,” saying, “I think they are possible. I have to tell you that I have a very deep understanding of education and I have done this."

His comment was interpreted, rightly so, as support for the type of treatment banned in many countries and which the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has ruled unethical, lacking scientific grounding and inefficient. Israeli psychologists and psychiatrists also consider categorically “gay conversion” dangerous, inefficient and a potential source of suicidal tendencies. In 2014, the Ministry of Health warned the public against conversion therapies. Following the public outcry, Peretz retracted from his statement admitting that these conversion therapies are inappropriate.

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