08/08/2009
Tens of Thousands Attend Tel Aviv Rally for Gay Shooting Victims
At least 25,000 and perhaps as many as 70,000 people gathered in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square this evening for a rally in solidarity with Israel's LGBT community in honor of the victims of last weekend's shooting at a gay youth center in the city.
Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, President Shimon Peres, Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar, family members of victims, and prominent Israeli LGBT leaders spoke at the event, which also featured performances by Yehuda Poliker, Dana International, Ivri Lider, Ninet Tayeb, Corin Alal, Keren Peles and Margalit Tzanani, according to Haaretz.
Said Peres: "The shots which struck this proud community affected us all as human beings, as Jews and as Israelis. The man who targeted the two victims targeted all of us...Everyone has the right to be different and proud. Noone has the right to interfere in other people's lives so long as everyone respects law and order. I came to share your tears after the death of two young innocents. Be strong and courageous."
Nir Katz, 26, and Liz Trubeshi, 16, were killed in the shooting by a lone gunman, who injured 15 others.
The gunman is still at large.
Two of those injured in the shooting spoke at tonight's rally: "Uri Gil, who was injured during the
attack on the center, took the stage at the rally together with his
friend Chen Langer and said, 'That place was a warm and loving home for
them and they met wonderful people there....This past week I have been haunted by nightly fear, especially when
I think that the murderer is walking around out there,' he added. 'No
murderer will keep us in the closet.' Chen Langer, a youth counselor at the center who was also injured in
the attack, arrived in a wheelchair and spoke after Gil. 'This is the
day in which we cease to be silent, to hide, and to alter the
appearance of reality.' Langer tearfully added, 'The home that was a place of security for youths became a slaughterhouse of youths.'
Haaretz reports that threats were made before tonight's rally: "Earlier Saturday, a soldier in the Israel Defense
Forces' Nahal Haredi unit was arrested on suspicion that he had
threatened rally organizers on an online forum. While in custody, the soldier confessed to making the threats.
Meanwhile, operators of transportation to the Tel Aviv rally
received telephone threats from an anonymous caller who warned that
grenades will be hurled at attendants of the rally. "
Watch video of this evening's rally including a performance by popular gay Israeli pop star Ivri Lider, AFTER THE JUMP...
Posted 5:26 PM EST by Andy Towle in Crime, Gay Youth, Israel, Ivri Lider, News, Tel Aviv | Permalink
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I'm very sorry for the tragedy and loss which precipitated this event, but I must say ... THAT is a rally, and THAT is solidarity! And that is an impressive amount of support from their straight brothers and sisters!
We read almost daily about similar atrocities committed against LGBT citizens in the U.S., with some offenders only getting a slap on the wrist. We should be infuriated but we've apparently let ourselves become desensitized. It leaves me wondering how many deaths and how much civil terrorism it will take before we finally come together and take a stand like these Israelis are taking.
Even with months of planning and organizing we'll be lucky to get 25,000 people in DC for the Equality March on October 10-11th, let alone 75,000+. I mean WTF.
Posted by: sparks | Aug 8, 2009 6:41:44 PM
Israel really needs to be admired for the response these shootings got. The president proclaiming solidarity with the gay community, the entire country in mourning, a huge crowd in Tel Aviv. They're absolutely setting an example for the rest of the world, and especially the rest of the Middle East, to follow!
Posted by: Drosselmayer | Aug 8, 2009 6:43:31 PM
Amazing, especially compared with the response to murders of gays elsewhere in the world.
Sparks, the 1993 March on Washington had attendance estimates ranging from 300,000 (Park Service) to 1 million (organizers). (This is why the Park Service stopped doing crowd estimates.) I can't see why the numbers would be dramatically lower 16 years later.
Posted by: Paul R | Aug 8, 2009 7:11:50 PM
@Paul R:
Apathy. Complacency. And half a generation of people who are content to wait for old bigots to die, or who don't want to be labeled.
But we'll see.
Posted by: sparks | Aug 8, 2009 7:38:41 PM
Im getting all teary eyed. There is hope for this world after all.
Posted by: Robert | Aug 8, 2009 8:09:55 PM
The Israeli people know what it is like to be attacked for who they are. I am truly touched by the tremendous outpouring of sympathy for the victims of this vile act of hate. I stand with them in their grief.
Posted by: Attmay | Aug 8, 2009 8:17:31 PM
Impressive turnout? Hmm, maybe. The population of Tel Aviv is around 400,000. The population of the whole Gush Dan metropolitan area is just over 3 million people. So 20-70,000 people turned out to protest the murders and intimidation of LGBT teenagers. How impressive is that turn out again?
Posted by: Wheezy | Aug 9, 2009 2:36:18 AM
Wheezy,
Still beats the pathetic LGBT turnout in 'Murika. The loony "birther" protestors actually outnumber the gays by a fair amount.
The Prop. 8 rallies earlier this year were a truly pathetic show of impotence and helplessness. You had 300 protestors outside the California Supreme Court in San Francisco. There are 809,000 folks in the city proper and over 7.2 million in the metropolitan Bay Area. You'll think taking away constitutional rights would attach a few more people. But you'd be wrong.
Posted by: John | Aug 9, 2009 3:04:57 AM
Wheezy, why ask why? Just know that a whole lot of people in a conservative part of the world came out to honor victims of hate.
In regards to the March, PLEASE, check out http://equalityacrossamerica.org/ for updates on the March. We are working very hard to get things going and have made quite a bit of progress ,but, if anything can hold us back, it's apathy. Please take a look at the site. There are some amazing folks working together to bring the struggle to the Governments doorstep.
I was recently named to chair the Diversity cmte and will be working to my utmost ability along with everyone else to make this event not just a numerical success, but, a meaningful one.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Aug 9, 2009 4:30:32 AM
"How impressive is that turn out again?"
Very.
How pathetic is your response?
There are no words.
Posted by: JeffNYC | Aug 9, 2009 8:52:43 AM
Perhaps this can serve as an example. I don't have any more words...
Posted by: david van Leesten | Aug 9, 2009 10:29:39 AM
It was an impressive turn-out in Rabin Square, to have the Mayor speak out against the attack, and support the community as a whole is unprecedented. Is this kind of solidarity seen in the U.S...no, it's simply dead in this country.
That's why more and more people, politicians, and religious groups are walking all over the LGBT community.
The October Equity march in DC will be a joke by comparison. It might as well be called, Laughingstock. 25,000 LGBT's marching won't make any difference, and won't get any serious air-time. Get a million out there, and the community might get noticed.
Posted by: D | Aug 9, 2009 11:56:52 AM
Could you be more of a Buzzkill, D ??
Posted by: ty | Aug 9, 2009 1:18:12 PM
Israel is not a conservative country, though. It has a very good record on gay rights (much better than most eastern European countries and many southern U.S. states). The region (Middle East) is of course very violently bigoted and ignorant but this kind of support isn't really surprising in Tel Aviv.
Posted by: Enpitsu | Aug 9, 2009 1:24:25 PM
Israel also has a very good record on human rights. Right, United Nation?
Posted by: Sanny | Aug 9, 2009 1:45:17 PM
What's your damage Heather, I mean D?
You sound like a bitter person ( I don't know you I'm jes sayin").
Are you going to March or is it too much of a time waster for you? Your rights, that is.
Posted by: Derek Washington | Aug 9, 2009 1:54:11 PM
@Sanny, would you rather be gay and live in Israel or in Syria? Or Jordon? Maybe Egypt? No? Didn't think so. Israel is not the only one guilty of human rights abuses in the Middle East, FAAAAAAAAR from it.
Posted by: Enpitsu | Aug 9, 2009 2:28:04 PM
I'm not saying that 20-70,000 people is bad. It is impressive compared to any protest of LGBT hate crimes in America...but how many would they have gotten if the children had been straight? Probably more, I'm thinking.
Posted by: Wheezy | Aug 9, 2009 2:34:18 PM
Considering this is in a very religious country, the very heart of the 'holy land' of the Abrahamic religions on which so many bigoted Americans base their pathetic views, this is certainly impressive, and shameful for those Americans.
Posted by: rovex | Aug 9, 2009 3:34:24 PM
I dont think there would have been much of a protest if the kids had been straight. It was a hate crime, not just a random murder. Straight kids are rarely singled out in this way for being straight.
Posted by: rovex | Aug 9, 2009 3:36:55 PM
Both Israel-hating gays and Conservative American evangelist types have a hard time dealing with Israel being so gay-accepting, each for their own reasons. Whatever. I think it's really cool that Israel, more than not, sees it's gay citizens as their own fellow citizens.
Posted by: JT | Aug 9, 2009 4:26:34 PM
My 'meh' reaction came mainly from reading the comments on youtube when the story first posted. Along with the comments on other news sites. They fell into the categories of 1.) Ha, ha, good start, we should kill more AND 2.) Well, what a tragedy but you know they brought it on themselves.
I'm thinking more people would have thought it a real crime/tragedy if they'd been straight. Everyone would have been outraged if some lunatic burst into a school and murdered some innocent straight kids....but the reaction to innocent LGBT kids getting gunned down barely gets press at all. Seriously, how many mainstream media sites have actually made a big deal about it? Hardly any in the U.S. because it was 'gay club'.
Posted by: Wheezy | Aug 9, 2009 5:23:14 PM
I don't know about that one, Wheezy. There are double, triple, quadruple homicides all over the U.S. and the world all the time, involving heterosexuals, that get no press attention. It's just that the gay press is paying attention to this one for obvious reasons.
Posted by: JT | Aug 9, 2009 6:22:03 PM