Ultra-Orthodox Jew Yishai Schlissel just moments before he pulled a knife from under his coat and started stabbing people at Jerusalem's gay pride parade on Thursday, July 30, 2015. (Photo by Sebastian Scheiner/AP)
A chorus of condemnation rang out after the attack, and not just from Jerusalem's small but tight LGBT community. Israel's chief rabbis, members of Jerusalem's secular majority, and leaders of the country's newly minted far-right government all decried Schlissel's violent actions.
Israeli President Reuven Rivlin speaks to his supporters outside the presidential home in Jerusalem on August 7, 2015. (Photos by Monique Jaques.)
Sipping a beer and smoking outside Radio pub, which sits around the corner from Jerusalem's only gay bar, Ido was pessimistic about the future of the city and the role that his gay friends will play in it."You can't have gay rights in a country that is basing its whole existence only on religion," he said, emphasizing that the dwindling gay community is ditching Jerusalem for more welcoming metropolises like Tel Aviv, Paris, and London."A lot of the people from the community here are afraid," he added. "It's not like the pride march you see in New York or London. People here get death threats that they take very seriously because this is a militant society. It is. And because of that, these threats don't surprise anyone… It's something that's deep in the DNA of the city."Jerusalem's pride parade is smaller and more sober than the large, joyful march held annually in Tel Aviv, and the brutal attack left the community shaken. A week later, it was business as usual in some areas — with plenty of drunken partying in the downtown triangle on the night of Shabbos — but Schlissel's rampage and Shira's death may have lasting effects. Jerusalem's Orthodox and LGBT communities, along with members of the secular left, are looking both inward and forward, toward a future where the city can embrace the gay community and overcome religious differences.
As Shira was clinging to life in the Hadassah Medical Center, spontaneous rallies erupted in both Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem, where hundreds flooded into Zion Square, a cultural focal point in West Jerusalem. The rallies brought out the gay community, rabbis, and secular residents. They mourned for the slain teen, spoke about unity and tolerance, and vented their rage that this sort of violent, anti-gay act could happen in their streets. Many at the event painted their hands red in protest.Shira's death demanded questioning across Jerusalem and Israel about what inspired Schlissel to go berserk at the pride parade for the second time in a decade. Is he just a deranged murderer? Or is he the product an ultra-Orthodox community that has misinterpreted Jewish teachings?"We see him as having acted as a lone wolf, but we also see him as a product of ongoing incitement against us that's been happening for years," Tom Canning, who works for the grassroots LGBT activist organization Jerusalem Open House, told VICE News. "And also neglect. He went through our prison system and received early release, and no one thought they should see if his convictions have changed."Jerusalem Open House, which was founded 18 years ago, stepped up its outreach in the week after the attack. Emily, an 18-year-old who was draped in a pride flag while dancing at with her friends on Friday night at Video bar, Jerusalem's lone gay bar, told VICE News the group's efforts have been crucial.'People here get death threats that they take very seriously because this is a militant society.'
Emily, 18, poses inside Video in Jerusalem on August 7, 2015. (Photo by Monique Jaques)
For Sarah Weil, a native Californian who has lived in Israel for 10 years, the week after Shira's death was at times complex, harrowing, and inspirational. Nearly four years ago, Weil founded a lesbian social activist group in Jerusalem called Women's Gathering, and last week she decided to bring her fight for equal rights to the streets of her city — along with her Jewish identity — in the form of both a public Shiva for Shira in Zion Square. During the weeklong mourning period, Weil draped herself in a rainbow pride flag adorned with the Star of David."I haven't really ever publicly identified myself as a gay person," she told VICE News while proudly carrying the flag on her way to Zion Square. "So why do I have to identify with a flag? For a lot of gay people in Jerusalem, it's not their primary identity. This attack really shocked me into realizing how important it is to identify with the flag, and to hold the flag publicly. It represents us having visibility in Jerusalem. And visibility is what is bringing the conflict to the fore, and what's allowing there to be this confrontation."
Sarah Weil walks through Jerusalem on her way to Zion Square on August 7, 2015. (Photo by Monique Jaques)
Mourners sit in Zion Square in Jerusalem on August 6, 2015. (Photo by Monique Jaques)
Sarah Weil argues with a passerby in Zion Square on August 7, 2015. (Photo by Monique Jaques)