Ohana rips PM of Luxembourg for hyprocisy toward Iran’s execution of gays

Justice Minister Amir Ohana on Tuesday slammed the gay prime minister of Luxembourg for alleged hypocrisy because he boycotted an Israeli event due to an anti-homosexual comment made by education minister Rafi Peretz but the prime minister welcomed Iran’s foreign minister who defended the execution of gay Iranians.

Ohana, the most senior openly gay member of Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet, wrote on Twitter: “Honorable Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Xavier Bettel, Yesterday, you boycotted an Israeli event due to an inappropriate comment made by an Israeli minister regarding conversion therapy. That comment was denounced and strongly condemned by many, including PM Netanyahu.”

Ohana added that “With your permission, I have a question: when you shook hands with Zarif – were you aware of how conversion therapy looks like in the Islamic Republic of Iran? Sincerely, Amir Ohana, Israel’s Minister of Justice (and openly gay, btw).”

Ohana tweeted a screen shot of The Jerusalem Post June story on Islamic Republic of Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif’s defense of Iran’s ongoing execution of gays.

Regarding Iran’s execution of gays, Zarif said that: “Our society has moral principles, and according to these principles we live. These are moral principles regarding the behavior of people in general. And that’s because the law is upheld and you abide by laws.”

US ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell tweeted in response to Ohana’s criticism:” totally agree with my friend Amir Ohana….we all benefit from his courage.”

Grenell, who is an openly gay, told the Post at the time: “The UN’s Declaration of Human Rights makes clear that these answers from the Iranian regime are violating basic UN principles. UN members should agree with the Declaration in order to be members. Criminalizing homosexuality violates the Declaration, plain and simple.”

The Post reported in January on the clerical regime’s execution of a man based on an anti-gay charge. According to 2008 a British Wikileaks cable, Iran’s regime executed between 4,000-6,000 gays and lesbians since the country’s 1979 Islamic revolution.

Benjamin Weinthal is a European correspondent at The Jerusalem Post and a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.