Netanyahu rebukes far-right ally for anti-LGBTQ comments

JERUSALEM (AP) — Designated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a rare rebuke of his presumed coalition allies for saying they would advance laws allowing discrimination against LGBTQ people, pledging there would be no harm to their rights by his new government.

Orit Struck, a Religious Zionist member of the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, said Sunday her party seeks a change to the country’s anti-discrimination law that would allow people to avoid acts that go against their religious beliefs, including discriminating against LGBTQ people.

Netanyahu said that Struck’s remarks “are unacceptable to me and to members of Likud,” and that the coalition agreement “does not allow discrimination against LGBTQ or harming their right to receive services like all other Israeli citizens.”