More than 3,000 students gathered in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, waving signs reading: “I don’t want to be normal”, in response to last week’s homophobic comments by the Israeli education minister.

Last Friday, Rafi Peretz was asked in an interview: "What would you do if one of your children had a different sexual orientation?”

Dismissing the hypothesis, Peretz replied: “Blessed are my children, growing up naturally and healthy.”

The statement quickly landed Peretz in hot water, drawing harsh responses from Israel’s LGBTQ community and calls on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to fire the minister from his post. Peretz’s words also rippled through the wider society, prompting several local authorities to open the next school day by talking about the importance of accepting others and loving the different.

Wednesday morning’s youth rally was held in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv and joined by high school students and teachers from all over the country.

One of the protesters, a 12th-grade student from Ein Horesh in central Israel, said the conversation they started in class raised a lot of anger and pain, so it was decided by the school to organise a bus and bring the pupils to the demonstration. Read more via Middle East Eye