Anastasia Michaeli: Gay People are Miserable
First it was scuffles and water fights in Knesset; now it’s homophobia. Anastasia Michaeli just doesn’t seem to get the conventions of normal inoffensive behavior.
You probably remember the model turned politician from the ugly saga in January when she threw a cup of water at Israeli-Arab lawmaker Raleb Majadele during a Knesset discussion. Or maybe from even earlier, when in 2010 she physically threatened another Arab lawmaker, Hanin Zuabi, a participant in the Gaza flotilla, who was talking about the activist voyage.
Today, she chirped in and declared that homosexuality results from abuse. “I think that most homosexuals are people that experience very difficult sexual abuse from a very young age,” she said in a session of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women.
In a recording it is clear that she also generalized that gay people “are miserable” and “in the end they commit suicide when they are 40.”
There’s something a bit freaky here. It was almost exactly six months ago (six months and five days) that Michaeli threw the water. It’s as if she has a checklist of minority groups to offend, and tries to tick of one every six months — Arabs, check; gays, check. Anybody know who is up next.
A message from our editor-in-chief Jodi Rudoren
We're building on 127 years of independent journalism to help you develop deeper connections to what it means to be Jewish today.
With so much at stake for the Jewish people right now — war, rising antisemitism, a high-stakes U.S. presidential election — American Jews depend on the Forward's perspective, integrity and courage.
— Jodi Rudoren, Editor-in-Chief
