Jewish Extremist Stabs Six People At Gay Pride Parade In Jerusalem
Six people were stabbed by a Jewish religious extremist at the annual Gay Pride Parade held in Jerusalem this Thursday. The Magen David Adom reported two of the victims were severely injured and are now in critical condition.
According to the Washington Post, the man has been identified as Yishai Shlissel, a Jewish extremist who previously stabbed three people at another gay pride event in Israel a decade ago. Shlissel was apprehended by Israeli police at the scene of the Gay Pride Parade. He had just been released from prison for the previous stabbing and wasted no time in attacking Israel’s gay community once again.
According to the Guardian, the horrifying scene was witnessed by 18-year-old Zoe Shoshei. She said she was chatting with a man at the Gay Pride Parade when Shlissel stabbed the man in the back with a “very big knife” and knocked her to the ground. The assailant then proceeded to terrorize the Gay Pride Parade, stabbing helpless victims for several minutes before police finally subdued him.
“We heard people screaming, everyone ran for cover, and there were bloodied people on the ground,” said Shai Aviyor, another witness.
According to RT, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a statement about the Gay Pride Parade stabbing.
“It’s a most grave incident. We will mete out justice to those responsible for the act. In the state of Israel freedom of choice of the individual is one of the basic values. We must ensure that in Israel every man and woman will live in security with whichever way they choose to live.”
Despite the horrific attack, Israel’s Gay Pride Parade will continue as planned as the attendees of the event attempt to recover from the shock.
The Gay Pride event coordinators took extra precautions to prevent this kind of hate crime, positioning a large number of police officers at the head of the parade.
“Despite the large number of police, one man managed to break through and do this,” said Jerusalem Police spokesperson Assi Aharoni.
Yishai Shlissel had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for his first stabbing, but the sentence was shortened–a decision that might prove to be a deadly mistake if the two stabbing victims fail to pull through. Before his previous attack, Shlissel announced to his victims, “I came to kill in God’s name.”
Another horrific knife attack this occurred this week. A British man who attempted to stab two police officers, but he was identified by images captured on their body cameras, caught and convicted.
[Image credit: Getty]
