Rallies to protest Thursday’s stabbing attack at Jerusalem’s Gay Pride parade will be held in major Israeli cities on Saturday night.
President Reuven Rivlin is due to attend the Jerusalem gathering and thousands are expected to rally in Tel Aviv, where former Israeli President Shimon Peres is scheduled to speak. Also attending will be the leaders of Zionist Union, MKs Isaac Herzog and Tzipi Livni, the chairman of Yesh Atid, Yair Lapid, Meretz leader Zehava Galon, as well as MK Dov Khenin of the Joint Arab List. The only Knesset member from the right who has indicated his participation so far is Yinon Magal of Habayit Hayehudi.
A rally was already scheduled to take place in Tel Aviv this weekend to commemorate six years since two people were killed in a shooting at Bar Noar, a gay youth center in the city.
“In addition to being a memorial service, the [rallies] will convey a message of protest and struggle” said Chen Arieli, head of Aguda – The Israeli National LGBT Task Force, speaking to Haaretz. “We demand a meticulous investigation of this incident and pray for the health of the injured… Every hate crime must be condemned and action must be taken to achieve equality and security for each and every one of us, without any discrimination.”
An ultra-Orthodox Jew stabbed six Gay Pride marchers in Jerusalem Thursday, gravely wounding two of them, just weeks after completing a 10-year sentence for a similar attack. The suspect, Yishai Shlissel, was released from jail three weeks prior to the most recent attack after having served a ten-year sentence for wounding three marchers in a similar attack in 2005. The assault occurred in Jerusalem’s city center, with witnesses describing terrifying scenes of an assailant, dressed in ultra-Orthodox garb, storming the parade with a knife.
Media reported that Shlissel had posted a letter on the Internet speaking of the “abomination” of a Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem. Television also broadcast extracts of a recent interview that he was said to have given to a radio station in which he said “the fight continues against those who defile” God.
The Bar Noar shooting took place on August 1, 2009, a Tel Aviv center for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth. A masked gunman burst into the center and killed Nir Katz, 27, and Liz Trubeshi, 16. Ten others were wounded in the shooting.
