“Ex-Gay” Torturers Find Haven In Israel

Last last year the New Jersey ex-gay torture group JONAH was ordered to disband after losing the consumer fraud suit brought by the SPLC. Some of the “therapists” affiliated with JONAH are sending their referrals to Israel where, for now, the law cannot touch them. The Associated Press reports:

Israel’s Health Ministry advises against so-called “gay conversion” or “reparative” therapy, calling it scientifically dubious and potentially dangerous, but no law limits it. In Israel, practitioners say their services are in demand, mostly by Orthodox Jewish men trying to reduce their same-sex attractions so they can marry women and raise a traditional family according to their conservative religious values.

Clients also include Jewish teenagers from the U.S. and other countries who attend post-high school study programs at Orthodox seminaries in Israel. Half of all such students attend seminaries that require youth who admit to having homosexual feelings to see reparative therapy practitioners, according to the Yeshiva Inclusion Project, a group that counsels gay prospective students.

An estimated 20 to 30 licensed psychologists and social workers and 50 non-licensed therapists practice some form of conversion therapy in Israel, said Rabbi Ron Yosef of the Orthodox gay organization Hod, which calls for legislation against such therapy. Gays in Israel who contacted JONAH were referred to some of these therapists.

“I’m extremely concerned,” said Chaim Levin, a former client of JONAH in the U.S. and a plaintiff in the lawsuit against it in New Jersey. “It’s exporting hatred and junk science to Israel. People need to know.”