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The Israeli Minister of Education is backing down. Rafi Peretz says he does not advocate conversion therapies for homosexuals in order to change their orientation. This decline comes after three days of controversy for a newly appointed minister.
From our correspondent in Jerusalem , Guilhem Delteil
The Israeli Minister of Education has backtracked on a letter to school principals in Tel Aviv. " I know , writes Rafi Peretz, that conversion therapies are not good. This is my unequivocal position . " I realize that it causes more suffering than help, " he says, assuring that his words have been misinterpreted. However, on the evening of Saturday 13 July, when a journalist asked him if he thought he could " change a homosexual ", he replied " I think we can, I did it too ".
His remarks had been immediately condemned by a rather unanimous political class. Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu himself stood out from Rafi Peretz, saying the remarks were " unacceptable ". The controversy has not decreased in intensity. Calls for resignation multiplied and teachers threatened to strike in September, just before the parliamentary elections .
Rafi Peretz, rabbi and former military officer at the head of the union of right-wing parties, finally backtracked. Benyamin Netanyahu sees him as an indispensable ally to keep himself in power. In the government for only a month, the minister has already provoked several controversies. It risked having an electoral cost for the right-wing majority.
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