Organizers estimated a crowd of more
than 70,000 attended an event Saturday evening in Tel Aviv expressing
solidarity with the gay and lesbian community after last Saturday's
attack on a gay club that left 2 dead and 11 wounded, 4 seriously,
the AFP reported.
“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.” Israeli
President Shimon Peres told the crowd.
Twenty-six-year old Nir Katz and
sixteen-year-old Liz Trubeshi died when a masked, lone gunman stormed
the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association building and sprayed
automatic fire in a basement room as a support group for gay teens
assembled, before escaping. Both victims were laid to rest Sunday.
An ultra-Orthodox soldier suspected of
making violent threats over the Internet or by telephone was arrested
in Jerusalem. Police said the soldier has confessed to making
threats in an online forum. Other threats were telephoned in;
several organizers helping to bus people to the event say they
received calls threatening: “today you will get hit with grenades,
not just guns.”
Peres expressed strong solidarity with
the gay and lesbian community, saying: “Everyone has the right to
be different and proud. No one 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.”
But even as high-ranking politicians
condemned the deadly attack, a new poll released Thursday showed
nearly half of Israelis strongly disapprove of being gay. Haaretz
newspaper reported that 46% of 498 people agreed to the question “do
you see homosexuality as a perversion?”
The event, held in Tel Aviv's Rabin
Square, also featured performances from many prominent Israeli
artists.