Ravit Baranes was shocked. As she walked around her garden, she suddenly noticed that the LGBT pride flag that had been hanging there had disappeared. Going through footage of a surveillance camera, the mystery was solved. During daylight hours on Aug. 8, a man climbed the wall surrounding her house with the aim of removing the multicolored flag Ravit and her husband, Shay, had installed on the top of the barrier. At first, the man failed to take the flag down. Then he came back with a knife and simply cut it off.
‘’On Saturday, a vile person who we do not know decided to take down the flag that was hanging in our courtyard. The flag was distributed by the Ramat Gan municipality in the framework of the LGBT Pride Month, and was installed in our yard by my father-in-law, who is by the way religious. He (my father-in-law) simply responded to my request, honored my wish and posted it. ... A vile and despicable man chose to take the flag down, but this will not prevent us from following the path we believe in. A path of honoring, cooperating with and listening to the other,’’ wrote Baranes on Facebook. To the press she explained that she and her husband decided to hang the pride flag as an educational act, for their children to grow up respecting all people.
The Ramat Gan municipality was quick to react. Mayor Carmel Shama Hacohen said, "I have decided, again, to respond with light against this darkness, and to fill the neighborhood with pride flags for the whole month. Even people who believe that homosexual relations are forbidden by the Torah must remember that God did not appoint them judges over others.’’ Shama HaCohen added, "The municipality has decided to fly the flag of openness — opening the city to all human beings whoever they are.’’
Tamar Yahel, CEO of the Hoshen LGBT organization, praised Shama-Hacohen’s reaction. "Shama-Hacohen announced that on any case of a pride banner being burned or removed, he will strengthen and increase the visibility of the city’s support of LGBT, by hanging more and more flags across the city. … This is an excellent example of educating the public and of leaders taking a clear stand,’’ she told Al-Monitor. Yahel said she recommends that other heads of councils act similarly.
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