Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has issued a letter in response to criticism from the LGBT+ community who have accused him of discrimination after he backtracked his support to extending surrogacy rights to gay couples.

Netanyahu addressed the letter to Barbara “Goldy” Goldberg, Vice President of the World Congress of GLTB Jews (WDG), one of the organisations that had written to the prime minister to protest his stance on the surrogacy law.

It was Amir Ohana, the first openly gay lawmaker in Netanyahu’s Likud party, who proposed the amendment to the surrogacy law which would have seen gay parents being able to access those services in the country. Netanyahu had initially expressed support for the amendment only to vote against it.

The letter failed to satisfy the concerns of LGBT+ activists, who have also accused Netanyahu’s government of “pinkwashing” for advertising Israel as a gay-friendly destination at the Berlin Pride march just days after protests and a nationwide strike saw tens of thousands of protestors condemning the vote on surrogacy rights. Read more via PinkNews