"You're gay, so you're an apostate," an SMS message distributed overnight Sunday to hundreds of gay men Israel reads.
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"You deserve to be punished severely, face death, and be expelled from Israel," the message continues.
However, the sender offers message recipients a way out: "Come to Ohr Elchonon Yeshiva to return to the faith. We'll be happy if you convert to the faith."
The message goes on to provide contact details for Ohr Elchonon, a Lithuanian Haredi yeshiva in Jerusalem.
The message is signed "Rabbi Haim Arie Hadash," who is director of the yeshiva.
Various LGBTQ social media groups assessed that anywhere from several dozen to several hundred gay Israelis received the message. It was unclear if the text had been sent to a list of random numbers, hoping that statistically some recipients would be either open or closeted homosexuals, or whether the phone numbers had been leaked from the popular LGBTQ dating site Atraf, which Iranian hackers targeted some three months ago.
A request for clarification sent to the number that appears on the message was unanswered as of Monday afternoon. But it appears that the yeshiva is not responsible for the message – gay and lesbian issues are not on its agenda, or even discussed. The Ohr Elchonon administration issued an official statement denying that the message had been sent in the name of its director, Rabbi Hadash, and reported that it had filed a police complaint over the incident asking that they find the person or persons responsible.
Attempts to respond to the sender were unsuccessful.
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