A leader of a right wing Israeli political party said Israel must not recognize same-sex marriage.

Israel is in the midst of political campaigns for the country’s elections on the 22 January 2013.

Answering a question regarding same-sex marriage from a student during a political campaign on Tuesday (25 December), Bennett was quoted by the daily Haaretz as saying: ‘These are two clashing values.

‘I am for “live and let live”, but this clashes with the values of Israel as a Jewish state. It has a set of family values. The state cannot absorb or contain official recognition of same-sex marriage’.

Bennett, a major in the Israeli army reserves, added an example to ‘demonstrate’ his ‘tolerance’, saying: ‘I had a soldier in the reserves who came out. We joked about him, but it was in good fun. It was fine’.

Bennett repeatedly refused answering questions posed by Jewish religious gay organizations or even meet with them saying: ‘there are more important issues for the people of Israel at this time’.

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