ISRAEL: 16 Year-Old Girl Stabbed At Jerusalem Pride Dies Of Her Wounds

Haaretz reports:

Three days after being critically wounded by an ultra-Orthodox man that went on a stabbing rampage at Jerusalem's Gay Pride Parade, Shira Banki, a 16-year-old Israeli teen succumbed to her wounds Sunday afternoon. Five other people were wounded in the attack. Police confirmed that the suspected stabber is Yishai Schlissel, a Haredi man from Modiin Ilit who stabbed three participants in the 2005 Gay Pride march. He was recently released from prison after serving a 10-year sentence. Banki was a high-school student from Jerusalem, studying at the Hebrew University High School. She took part in Thursday's parade to show solidarity with her LGBT friends. She is survived by her parents and three siblings; her family decided to donate her organs.

Shira's family has issued a statement.

"Our magical Shira was murdered because she was a happy 16-year-old – full of life and love – who came to express her support for her friends' rights to live as they choose. For no good reason and because of evil, stupidity and negligence, the life of our beautiful flower was cut short. Bad things happen to good people, and a very bad thing happened to our amazing girl. The family expresses hope for a less hatred and more tolerance."

ISRAEL: Jerusalem Pride Attacker Refuses To Recognize Authority Of Legal System

Haaretz reports:

Jerusalem Magistrate's Court extended the remand of Yishai Schlissel for an additional 12 days on Friday, after he allegedly stabbed six participants in the city's Gay Pride Parade on Thursday. Schlissel – an ultra-Orthodox Jew who had served 10 years in prison for an identical attack in 2005 – refused to accept the court's jurisdiction and represented himself at the hearing. "I do not accept this court's authority. This court does not follow the rules of the holy Torah," Schlissel said at the hearing. "This court is part of the mechanism of evil. I have no interest in cooperating at all. I do not recognize any of the regime's institutions."

Judge Chana Miriam Lomp ruled in favor of the police's request for extending Schlissel's remand, citing the danger he posed to society, the severity of the crimes attributed to him and his past offenses. After stabbing three people at the Pride Parade a decade ago, Schlissel, then 40, from Modi'in Ilit, was convicted of attempted murder and aggravated assault. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison for the 2005 attack. However, in 2007, following an appeal, the Supreme Court reduced his sentence to 10 years.

Israeli police said late yesterday that they will conduct an internal probe into their failure to protect parade participants.

Since being released from prison, Jerusalem District Intelligence flagged Schlissel as someone who was liable to act against members of the gay community. However, these intelligence assessments did not specifically refer to Schlissel targeting this year's parade. The Israel Prison Service informs the police about prisoners who complete their sentences or are released on furlough using a computerized system. The system is updated every eight hours and provides general information. It was put in place primarily to alert the police to the release of abusive husbands who may seek to attack their wives again.

The police's intelligence coordinators are therefore aware when inmates go free. But if the convicts aren't identified as dangerous, no one is assigned to analyze their data and ask the important questions: Did they undergo a process of rehabilitation? Did they express regret over their crimes? Are there signs that point to the likelihood that they will resume criminal activity? Schlissel appears to have announced his intentions in leaflets distributed in his hometown of Modiin Illit shortly before the event, residents said.

Police had been told to be on the alert for Ultra-Orthodox men "masquerading" as secular Israelis, yet Schlissel had been allowed to freely enter the parade in his full Haredi outfit.

ISRAEL: At Jerusalem Pride 2014

Gay Star News reports:

Hundreds of people marched through the Israeli capital yesterday night for Jerusalem Pride despite two delays due to the war in Gaza. Different media reports said 500-2,000 people took part in the 13th edition of the event, although numbers were down on previous years when several thousand people attended. The event is usually held in July but had to be postponed twice because of fighting in the Gaza strip. A large police force escorted the marchers because previous events have been protested by ultra-Orthodox groups, but there were no incidents this year. Jerusalem Pride is smaller and more political than the more exuberant event in Tel Aviv, which was attended by more than 100,000 people in June. Noa Luzzati, an 18-year-old lesbian from the city of Modi’in, told the Jerusalem Post, 'Here people don’t accept gay people as they do in Tel Aviv. 'One of the reasons is that the government is based here and many of the religious people are homophobic. So I don’t feel safe here.'

RELATED: In 2011 and 2012 ultra-Orthodox protesters paraded donkeys near the Jerusalem Pride parade route to denounce the "bestiality" of the event. In earlier years ultra-Orthodox rabbis placed a curse on the parade, calling for its participants to feel "heavenly judgment."

At Jerusalem Pride 2013

Yesterday's gay pride event in Jerusalem drew 5000 participants and was relatively unmarred by protesters, unlike in recent years. The anti-gay donkeys made another appearance, but this time they were humans.

As usual, the march drew counter-protests. The "pride" march is particularly controversial in Jerusalem, Judaism's holiest city, with many Jews and Muslims arguing that it encourages immoral acts and constitute a desecration of the holy city. One counter-protester was arrested for throwing a stink bomb at marchers. A short time later, two women were arrested for a particularly attention-grabbing protest. The two had dressed up as animals, one as a monkey, and one as a donkey with a sign reading, “I’m a proud donkey.”

Their protest was similar to one that took place one year earlier. During the 2012 march, counter-protesters brought three donkeys wearing sheets with the words “I’m a proud donkey” written on them. Homosexual politicians in Israel have expropriated the Hebrew word "ge'eh," meaning "proud," to denote "homosexual," making use of the word's similarity to the English "gay." Thus "I'm a proud donkey" has a double meaning.

Likud Leader Rips Jerusalem Pride, Anti-Gay Protesters Bring Donkeys

"Homosexuality has long ceased to be a sexual deviation, belonging to individuals and their private lives, which no one wants to interfere with.They came out of the closet a long time ago and are now the spearhead of the 'post-' culture. We are dealing with the undermining of the family unit, which is the basic building block of every national society. Throughout history from Rome to Europe in our day, the approval and spread of homosexuality presaged the decline of nations and cultures. If one reads the Torah portion 'Noah' – this comes as no surprise. The organizers of a pride parade do not wish to gain rights. They strive to force homosexuality as a culture upon the public sphere." - Moshe Feiglin, head of the Likud's Jewish Leadership group. In the past Feiglin has said that the Nazi Party was made of up "thugs and homosexuals."

Yesterday another Jewish group once again brought donkeys to Jerusalem Pride as a protest against "the bestiality of the parade." Last year the donkeys were accompanied by signs such as the ones below and others in Hebrew which read, "Sick perverts get back to the closet that you came from."VIDEO: Donkeys aside, the parade drew 4000 marchers and took place without incidents.

ISRAEL: 3000 March In Jerusalem Pride

Over the strenuous objections of religious groups, yesterday about 3000 activists marched in Jerusalem's pride parade. The event coincided with the date of the murderous 2009 attack on a Tel Aviv LGBT youth center. The perpetrators of that attack have still not been apprehended.

ISRAEL: Hate Group Leads Donkeys Through Jerusalem In Pride Protest

An anti-gay group led donkeys through the streets of Jerusalem today in protest of the gay pride parade also taking place. Because gays are like donkeys somehow.

"Muslims, Christians, Jews, all of them are hurt by the fact that the Holy City of Jerusalem is defiled by abominations like today's march in Jerusalem," said Marzel. "These donkeys do not commit acts that are as bad as what the marchers are doing," Marzel added. "The question is why are they allowed to carry out this provocation," explained Ben Gvir. He noted that whenever nationalists request the courts' permission to march through Arab towns like Umm El Fahm, they are made to jump through hoops because the act is considered "a provocation."

Who can translate the signs for us?

JERUSALEM: Ultra-Orthodox Protest But Pride Parade Goes On Without Injuries

Yesterday's gay pride parade in Jerusalem was met by three separate protests by the city's Ultra-Orthodox Jews, but the event finished without significant incidents or injuries.

It was homosexual rights vs. religion on Thursday in Jerusalem as some 3,000 Israelis joined a gay pride parade, marching with colorful balloons and dancing in the streets. The march infuriated Orthodox Jews. But Yonatan Gher, one of the parade organizers, says there is no religious monopoly on the Holy City. "The reason the march takes place in Jerusalem is not to upset anyone," said Gher. "We're here because we're Jerusalemites. This is our city as much as anybody else's." Ultra-Orthodox Jews held counter-demonstrations, carrying signs that read: "Sick perverts, get out of Jerusalem." Many agree with this man who says that the Bible describes homosexuality as an "abomination." "The promotion of a gay lifestyle in the streets of Jerusalem, which is the holiest city for the Jewish people, [and] for the other religions - for Muslims, for Christians - it's a provocation" said one Orthodox Jewish man.

The planned donkey parade by Jerusalem's deputy mayor was downgraded to a donkey puppet event, when he was denied permission to bring the animals through the city's center.

Jerusalem's Deputy Mayor Plans Donkey Parade To Counter Gay Pride

Angry over the planned gay pride parade in Jerusalem, the city's ultra-Orthodox deputy mayor wants to parade 50 donkeys through the city on the same day.

"This expresses what we think -- that this is a beastly act," Rabbi Yitzhak Pindrus, who represents the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party on the city council, told the Ynet news website. His spokesman Menahem Zaide declined to link the donkey march to the parade, saying only: "Donkeys also have rights to be recognised as couples. We are in favour of donkey rights," he told AFP. However, Zaide said they were still awaiting permission from the agriculture ministry. About 1,000 people were expected to take part in the pride parade under heavy security.

In 2007 marchers at Jerusalem Pride were pelted with eggs and human feces by ultra-Orthodox protesters.

ISRAEL: Jerusalem Police Reject Proposed Route For Gay Pride Parade

Jerusalem police have rejected the proposed route for this year's gay pride parade, which was to culminate at the Knesset, where activists would honor the two people were murdered at a Tel Aviv LGBT youth center last year in a still unsolved shooting spree. Police reportedly rejected the route because it also passes by an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva.

"The Jerusalem Police's decision in essence prevents the Jerusalem Open House and the gay community in Israel from marching in the center of Jerusalem, as is done in all the rest of Israel's major cities, along a publicly visible route that is not hidden from the eyes of the public," Uziel wrote. "The requested route does not pass through any areas that are sensitive to the nature of the parade. In this decision, the police severely violate the freedom of speech and the right to march. The decision isn't logical, isn't proportional and is not based on relevant arguments, as required by law," she added. "It is time to return the Jerusalem Gay Pride parade to its rightful place, as a part of the fertile Jerusalemite fabric of life."

In previous years members of Israel's ultra-Orthodox sect Haredi have pelted Jerusalem's pride-goers with eggs and bags of human excrement, resulting in hundreds of arrests.

(Tipped by JMG reader Huntington)

As Effective As Chicken Bones Soaked In Voodoo Sauce

"To all those involved, sinners in spirit, and whoever helps and protects them, may they feel a curse on their souls, may it plague them and may evil pursue them; they will not be requitted of their transgressions from heavenly judgment." - Orthodox Jews placing a curse upon Jerusalem Pride.

Ooh, everybody scared now?

Police are still debating allowing the June 21st event to take place. Last year's Jerusalem Pride was delayed, then cancelled, then held in a sports stadium, rather than risk a march through protesters. Tel Aviv held its pride event last week with little incident.

NOTE: The above linked Orthodox Jews are from the Eda Haredit sect, which Little David advises me are a group that does not recognize the state of Israel, because it has a secular government. Obviously, they do not represent all Orthodox Jews.