Melbourne Jewish radio station J-Air has apologised for broadcasting a rabbi’s claims the COVID-19 pandemic is a “designer drug” used by God to remove “immoral” gay people from the earth.
Rabbi Mendel Kessin made the claim during an episode of the Israeli radio personality Tamar Yonah’s syndicated radio program, broadcast on J-Air on March 30.
During the episode, Rabbi Kessin said he believes God was using the COVID-19 outbreak to remove “immoral” gay people.
Rabbi Kessin claimed he believes God was “98% finished” in preparing the world for redemption, and the coronavirus was God’s method of removing “major problems”.
“That’s how close we are to the redemption. Therefore what God wants to do is bring the redemption,” he said, according to Aleph Melbourne.
“However, there are certain problems that God must address in order for the redemption to actually happen.
“And what we begin to see is that the pandemic is an exact designer drug, if you want to use that expression, that will remove these problems.
“The plague itself is a vehicle, an instrument, to accelerate the messianic process by removing these major problems.
“The first major problem is that man has corrupted his nature. There’s a tremendous amount of… what’s called immorality in the world today. It’s widespread.
“We could say it’s also in the form of homosexuality, and gays and so on, where all of a sudden the gender differentiation is tremendously blurred.
“That is an incredible corruption of man’s nature.”
J-Air apologises for homophobic coronavirus rant
J-Air said they unreservedly apologised to the LGBTIQ community for broadcasting the episode of the syndicated radio show last month.
Station President George Bansky said Rabbi Kessin’s coronavirus comments vilified the LGBTIQ community and were “totally unacceptable”.
He said the station has pulled the podcast of the episode off their website and had begun an internal review.
“J-Air is very aware of its role as a community broadcaster. [J-Air] strictly adheres to the rules … as mandated by the Australian Communications and Media Authority.”
For the latest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) news in Australia, visit qnews.com.au. Check out our latest magazines or find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
