Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, a leading ideologue of the settlers has proclaimed homosexuality “a crime which is punished by death according to the Torah.” Also in 2006, the gay pride march took place surrounded by 12,000 police officers. He told police he wanted to kill homosexuals “in the name of God.” In 2006, he was given a 12-year jail term for attempted murder. In 2005, following a right-wing campaign to ban the pride march in Jerusalem, Yishai Schlisel, an ultra-Orthodox man, stabbed one man and two women. Within large sections of Israeli society, anti-Arab hatred mixes with anti-gay sentiment and hostility to secular and left-wing thought. And as a Time magazine article pointed out, the city “is only a short bus ride from one of the more inflexible Orthodox communities in the country, Bnei Brak.” But it is spoken of with derision as “the bubble” by many. These are the views held by highly influential layers within society and that make up one side of what is usually referred to as Israel’s “culture war”-the conflict between the largely secular and socially progressive layers and the orthodox conservative camp.Īrticles on Tel Aviv written in the aftermath of the shooting refer to the city as a centre of social tolerance, with its “municipally funded gay center” and so on. Shas leader Eli Yishai only recently centred his election campaign on a call to ban Jerusalem’s gay pride march, which he called the “filth parade.” He refers to homosexuality as an illness and speaks of “people who underwent treatment and recovered.” Nissim Ze’ev of Shas referred to gays as a “plague that could destroy Jewish Israel,” stating that homosexuality should be treated “just as the Health Ministry dealt with the bird flu epidemic.” Former health minister Shlomo Benizri of Shas last February blamed an earthquake on homosexuality asking, “Why do earthquakes happen? One of the reasons is the things to which the Knesset gives legitimacy, to sodomy.” Lesbianism is not acknowledged in the Torah, but is forbidden by the rabbis on the basis of the biblical injunction, “Do not follow the ways of Egypt where you once lived, nor of Canaan, where I will be bringing you.” In reality, other than Labour, Netanyahu’s rightist coalition partners subscribe to a strict anti-homosexual doctrine-citing the Torah with its declaration that a man who lies with another man is an “abomination” (to'eva). It comes amidst ritual denunciations of the killings by Israel’s orthodox parties, such as Shas and United Torah Judaism, which are governmental partners of the extreme right coalition headed by Binyamin Netanyahu’s Likud. He did so even as police have ordered the temporary closure of Tel Aviv’s gay clubs.Ĭohen’s is only the most transparent effort to prevent discussion of the horrific crime and its significance. Police Commissioner David Cohen responded by calling on people not to blame specific sectors of the community for Saturday’s attack “regarding suspicions and possible directions ,” hinting that it may not have been a anti-gay hate crime. Or Gil, a victim who was wounded in the shoulder and leg, told the media how people hid under tables and a bed. All that is known factually is that he entered the centre on Nachmani Street and began firing indiscriminately with a pistol before escaping. The masked, black-clad gunman has not been identified or caught, and the police investigation is presently subject to a gagging order. Fifteen others were injured, four of whom remain in Ichilov Hospital, including two who are in intensive care. The shooting resulted in the death of Nir Katz, 26, and Liz Trobishi, 16.
The shooting at the Bar-Noah gay youth club in Tel Aviv is testament to a society increasingly and bitterly divided, socially and politically.