Shira Banki, teen killed in Jerusalem gay pride parade stabbing, laid to rest
Shira Banki, the high schooler fatally stabbed at a gay pride parade in Jerusalem, was laid to rest Monday, a day after Israel's Prime Minister called on his people to "vigorously fight manifestations of hate."
The teen was one of six people stabbed Thursday
by an attacker police identified as Yishai Shlissel, an Orthodox Jew
released from prison in June after serving 10 years for stabbing
marchers at a 2005 gay pride parade.
He was arrested immediately after the attack, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
"Our
charming, happy, lively and beloved 16-year-old Shira was murdered just
because she came to support her friends and any person's right to live
their life their own way," Banki's family said in a statement. "With no
purpose but with stupidity, evilness and recklessness, her life came to
an end."
Her funeral was held Monday evening in Kibbutz Nahshon, about an hour's drive west of Jerusalem. It was closed to the media.
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"Shira
was murdered because she bravely supported the principle that each one
can live their life in honor and security," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahusaid in a statement.
"We
will not allow this despicable killer to undermine the core values that
Israeli society is based upon. We contemptuously denounce his actions
of hate and violence," he added.
Netanyahu also addressed the attack at his weekly Cabinet meeting Sunday, saying the stabbings and a separate incident -- in which an arson in the West Bank killed 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabshaand injured the boy's parents and brother -- represented "abhorrent crimes."
"I
have instructed security and law enforcement officials to use all legal
means at their disposal to apprehend the murderers and deal with the
stabber and the arsonists to the fullest extent of the law," he said.
"We are determined to vigorously fight manifestations of hate,
fanaticism and terrorism from whatever side. The fight against these
phenomena unites us all."
The
Prime Minister also used the occasion to slam the Palestinian
Authority, even though Banki's accused killer is Jewish and Palestinians
apparently were targeted in the arson.
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"This
is what distinguishes us from our neighbors. We deplore and condemn
these murderers. We will pursue them to the end. They name public
squares after the murderers of children. This distinction cannot be
blurred or covered up. It is important to say this even as we utter our
condemnations and unite against the criminals among our people," he
said.
Video
from Israel's Channel 10 shows what appears to be part of the attack
Shlissel perpetrated a decade ago. In it, a man makes quick slashing
motions at people on a Jerusalem street, including one holding a rainbow
flag, while others try to subdue him.
Channel 10 also aired video from the aftermath of Thursday's
attack, showing several wounded people, including a woman in a bloody
shirt being placed on a stretcher and into an ambulance. Another woman
was shown bleeding from her arm as someone applied pressure to the
wound.
"We
came together today for a festive event, but the joy was shattered when
a terrible hate crime occurred here in Jerusalem, the capital of Israel," President Reuven Rivlin said of the incident.
"People
celebrating their freedom and expressing their identity were viciously
stabbed. We must not be deluded, a lack of tolerance will lead us to
disaster. We cannot allow such crimes, and we must condemn those who
commit and support them."
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