Subscribe to Breaking NewsThree Dead After Shooting at Tel Aviv LGBT Youth Center
A gunman wearing black began shooting at a Tel Aviv gay and lesbian center called Café Noir Saturday night, killing three people and wounding at least eight more – other reports put the number of wounded as high as 15.
The shooter walked into the center during a meeting for LGBT teens. Most of the victims were very young, and many were not yet out to their families.
Police are searching for the gunman, and believe the incident was a homophobic attack rather than a part of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflicts.
Tel Aviv has an active LGBT scene, but several conservative groups in Israel frown on homosexuality.
The Jerusalem Post reports that police have ordered the closing of gay clubs all over the city as a safety precaution, and that one of the people killed was a youth counselor.
There is a short version of the story up at Reuters.
A story on Ynet News indicates that the attack took place during a regular meeting for LGBT teenagers. At least one witness says the gunman was masked.
I like how everyone except for Carey and LJKelly are busy arguing while 3 kids were just shot in a homophobic raid…congrats assholes! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy knowing your hearts and minds are with those kids and their families.
Roger Ramjet: There are anti-gay atheists. I don’t understand how they justify homphobia, but they exist. Buddhism, though nontheistic, is still a bona fide religion and is considerably more opposed to homosexuality outside of the West.
“I know we will all wait with baited breath as you provide us links to Non-Religous Anti-gay Websites, Science and Books.”
How about the exit polls for Proposition 8? If there are no anti-gay non-religious people, every single “nonreligious” person would have voted no, but that didn’t happen. Frighteningly, even gays themselves did not unanimously vote “no”, meaning there are even LGBT people who support discrimination against… themselves.
You might also be interested to know that Jews, who you clearly have biases against, voted overwhelming against Prop. 8. Chew on that for a while.
You can not bother responding to this post if you don’t want to. I won’t respond to you further as I’m ready to write you off as a troll.
Alex: It’s not that hate of one person cannot inspire hate in another. It’s the fact that the likelihood of anyone in Tel Aviv caring what anyone in Shas says is very low.
The overwhelming majority of Tel Aviv’s residents are completely secular; the religious parties received barely any votes in the most recent election (although, among them, Shas received the most from Tel Aviv-Yafo).
If there is a direct connection, the probability of the person coming from outside of Tel Aviv to perform the shooting is probably higher than the probability of them actually being a resident.
I doubt any connection between the MK’s words and the shooting, given that it was in Tel Aviv. That does not mean hate was not the motivation, only that the two are probably unrelated.
“… bigoted anti-religious nonsense, no?…”
Anti-Religious Non-sense???
WTF? Excuse me Kari, but where exactly do you think Anti-Gay hatred comes from? Atheists? Budhists? Space Aliens?
I know we will all wait with baited breath as you provide us links to Non-Religous Anti-gay Websites, Science and Books.
(Cue Jeopardy Music…in 3-2-1).
The fact is that ALL of the homophobia we experience in life, not only comes from religion alone, but started smack dab in the middle of – where?
ISRAEL.
So wake up, Moron.
This world would be a MUCH BETTER PLACE if only people like you would…
…Drop your Bibles/Torahs/Korans and step away from the religion PERMANENTLY.
you are all destroying our world with your psychotic mass delusions.
Kari, may I suggest that you find a local Pentacostal or any Evangelical church and pay a visit to any of their services as a guest. Bring up the topic of homosexualty and ask a few questions and listen. What they say will be bad enough. But the real danger is what those who hear their comments in and out of church that can turn to, and sometimes does, real violence against our community.
Most, if not all, religions and their leaders preach one common theme: “our way, or the highway.” Their justification for this theme is always the god of their religious holy book.
BTW, expressing opinions or diagreeing with those opinions doesn’t make someone an idiot. If it does then I suspect we all qualify.
Actually, Kari, you’re the one acting like an idiot. Homophobia, or any type of bigotry, spouted by a person in a position of power, or even not, can often be directly connected to acts of hate and violence done by people who listen to them. While there is no direct evidence that the two incidents are linked here, it’s foolish to assume that hate speech by one person can’t inspire the violent acts of another. Obviously the person doing the acts has to hold the hateful views in the first place, but a person they look up to acknowledging and legitimizing their point of view often gives bigots the courage to act on their violent impulses. That’s one of the big debates about freedom of speech, after all. Why do you think the community tries to counter hate speech whenever we can? It isn’t just because it’s offensive and wrong, it’s because there is the very real threat of people taking it upon themselves to act upon the hatred being spewed by people in power.
DICKERSON3870: What an MK said about gays has nothing to do with this incident unless that MK was the shooter. (Which is possible, but unlikely.)
Politicians say a lot of things. I highly doubt there’s any connection between the incident in Tel Aviv and the MK’s homophobic remarks; and frankly, you’re an idiot if you’re willing to assume that there must be one.
Just about every government has its share of homophobes among its ranks. Shas does not speak for Israelis at large… And, frankly, it probably doesn’t speak for a lot of the people who vote for them either.
gbarak: I really wish I were in Israel right now. >_> I want to attend said demonstration.
Few corrections:
The place attacked is not Café Noir (Café Noir is a restaurant nearby) but the offices of the main LGBT organization in Israel. The place is being used, among other things, for support groups meetings.
Also, unlike what is said in the Reuters report (for those of you who read the link), it is not a club.
At the time of writing, there are two dead and not three (this is probably a honest mistake. The initial police report talked about three dead indeed). However, three of the 10 hospitalized are reported to be in critical condition.
I’d suggest Ynet News to be the best source on this. Ynet is the largest Israeli news site, and is considered very reliable.
Also, as far as planned events, if you happen to be in Israel:
There will be a demonstration near the place, at 17:00 today (Sunday). And a large rally at Rabin square Tuesday at 20:00
(but, of course, stay up to date on the exact places and times)
RE: “We don’t even know religion was a factor yet. We should wait until we have the facts before we start on the bigoted anti-religious nonsense, no?” – Kari
SEE: “Israeli MP blames quakes on gays”, BBC NEWS, 02/20/08
(EXCERPT) An Israeli MP has blamed parliament’s tolerance of gays for earthquakes that have rocked the Holy Land recently.
Shlomo Benizri, of the ultra-Orthodox Jewish Shas Party, said the tremors had been caused by lawmaking that gave “legitimacy to sodomy”…
ENTIRE ARTICLE – http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7255657.stm
________________________________________________________________
ALSO SEE: “TEL AVIV GAY MASSACRE”, by R. Silverstein, 08/01/09
(EXCERPT) In a comment in another thread here, Hasbara Buster posted this quotation from the Jerusalem Post:
“I warned in a column last year that Israel is a place which, on the one hand has liberal laws, but on the other does not attempt to counter homophobia,” Danny Zak, a gay activist and journalist, told the Post during the demonstration. “A murder was waiting to happen,” Zak added.
“The Shas party has the blood of two innocent kids on their hands,” he said. “Shas has blamed gays for earthquakes and diseases.
This is incitement, but no one is put on trial for it,” he said.
ENTIRE POST – http://www.richardsilverstein.com/tikun_olam/2009/08/01/israeli-gunman-assaults-tel-aviv-gay-community-center-kills-3-teens/
“police have ordered the closing of gay clubs all over the city as a safety precaution”… This sounds homophobic..Do the police shut down all straight clubs if there is an attack at one of them?
LJKelley: Not to nitpick, but Tel Aviv isn’t exactly accustomed to violence.
Roger Ramjet: We don’t even know religion was a factor yet. We should wait until we have the facts before we start on the bigoted anti-religious nonsense, no?
It is bad enough when they kill adults, it is even more horrendous when it is a young person or a teenager. One of the saddest things too, is that some of these kids were just coming to grips with their sexuality and in fact some of them hadn’t even come out to their folks or family yet. How tragic too is this killer, he didn’t even have the guts to show off his homophobic self in the light of day, being dressed in black and under the guise of the dark of night. Let’s hope they find him soon before he destroys any more lives with his hate.
Drop your Bible/Torahs and step away from the religion.
Children being murdered is always evil. Whoever did this must be found and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
Ironically, whatever evil scum did this is lucky he did so in Israel, a land of laws. He will be dealt with by the courts.
How horrible, even in a place accustomed to violence. I know Tel-Aviv and most Israelis are very welcoming of the GLBT community. However, as seen in Jerusalem Pride there is a hateful ultra religious community.
I hope one day that peace visits the Middle East. I know that will ONLY happen when people learn to be accepting of each other.