A top rabbi has said that the LGBTQ+ community and homosexual people getting married are to blame for earthquake aftershocks felt in Israel following the devastating disaster in Turkey last month.

Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem and former Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar has reportedly said that recent earthquakes that have shaken Israel are the result of an increase in LGBTQ+ rights in the country.

Quoting a passage from the Talmud to support his claim, Amar argued that the earthquakes that have struck Israel following the disaster in Turkey and Syria can be linked to the increase in gay marriages, according to local media.

He reportedly said: “It’s not me interpreting, it’s the language of the Gemara.”

Quoting from the Talmudic passage, he reportedly added: “God said you are shocking your people for something that is not yours.”

Same-sex marriage is currently not legal in Israel, but in some cases where people have been married abroad, the marriages can be registered with the Israeli authorities.

Amar has previously claimed that homosexuals cannot be religious Jews and has reportedly labelled homosexuality “a wild lust that needs to be overcome”.

He has also reportedly said, speaking about the Jerusalem gay pride march, that “animals and wild beasts don’t behave like that”.

Amar has also reportedly called for homosexuals to be put to death in the past.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck early on the morning of Monday, 6th February, in southern Turkey, devastating the south of the country and northern Syria.

A second earthquake of 7.6 magnitude hit the same region again at 11:24am local time on 6th February, causing even more damage.

Over 50,000 people in Turkey and Syria have died.

The earthquakes were felt in Israel, with a 6.4 magnitude quake then hitting southern Turkey on 20th February. It was also felt in Israel.