Shaked blasts 'hypocritical' outrage over Rafi Peretz

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/266089

Former Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked defended Education Minister Rafi Peretz (United Right) on Wednesday, calling the backlash against Peretz “hypocritical” and a de facto form of censorship.

Shaked’s spoke out following a public backlash against Peretz over his comments in an interview aired Saturday night in which he expressed support for so-called gay “conversion therapy” to help people with same-sex attraction alter their sexual orientations.

While Shaked emphasized that she personally is adamantly opposed to conversion therapy, the former Justice Minister said the attacks on Rafi Peretz were a hypocritical attempt to silence dissenting views.

On Tuesday, following the public backlash, Minister Peretz renounced his support for conversion therapy, calling such treatment “unacceptable and severe”.

In a letter to Tel Aviv school principals, Peretz wrote: "I know that conversion treatments are unacceptable and severe, and I understand that this is an invasive treatment that is incompatible with the human psyche, causing patients more suffering than relief, even reaching the point of life-threatening suicide that could be prevented.