Israel's top court allows Jerusalem Gay Pride parade

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel's Supreme Court on Monday rejected a petition to ban this year's Jerusalem Gay Pride parade, an annual event that has been the focus of violent controversy in the Holy City in the past.

The petition, submitted by a group of hardline Jewish activists, called the parade scheduled for Thursday a "provocation."

Jerusalem municipality had also objected to the event, with city spokesman Gidi Schmerling warning that it "harms social relations."

But the court said in its ruling that the organisers of the event declared that they did not intend the parade to be provocative.

In 2005 an ultra-orthodox Jew stabbed three participants and was subsequently sentenced to ...