After the commotion died down and most of the young people had fled the place, a large puddle of blood was left behind. Right beside it lay a teenager, barely 18, fluttering between life and death. Stricken by panic, his friends kneeled beside him in a state of total loss. Some of them cried. Others screamed and called for help. By the time the police arrived, just a few minutes later, there was no one left to save. Just before 3 a.m. on April 21, Yiftah Grady was pronounced dead, only a few meters from the Shesh nightclub in the Tel Aviv suburb Raanana, where he had been partying with his friends a few minutes earlier.

On the day after his funeral, Benny Yannai, the father of one of Yiftah’s closest friends, said that he actually felt glad when he learned that his son would not be getting a leave from the army for Passover. His wife, on the other hand, was upset. “I told my wife Tali that I feel a lot safer when he’s on the base than when he’s wandering the streets and going out at night,” he wrote in a very moving piece published by the Israeli news website Walla in the wake of the stabbing. “When I heard about Yiftah's death, those harsh words turned into a very cruel reality. Yiftah grew up with my son. During all those years, I watched how they and all of their friends turned from being happy little kids with big smiles on their faces into lovely teenagers. … You bring a child into the world and invest your whole life in him. You tell him bedtime stories, snuggle with him on the couch and fall asleep with him in your arms. You promise him that he will always be safe, and he knows that you would be willing to sacrifice everything just to keep that promise. Then, suddenly it all ends in an instant.” 

He was barely 18. He was little more than a boy who was drafted into the army last summer, and had gone out that night to a club with his friends as they normally do, to release some of the pressure that builds up in anyone who serves in the military. This is the recreational culture of most Israeli youngsters. Like him, they go out to a club, where they drink, they dance, they sing, and if all goes well, they eventually return home in the wee hours of the morning. This time, however, nothing went well. Yiftah arrived at the club in Raanana’s industrial zone shortly before midnight. He joined his friends there, and they split a bottle of vodka among them before they went to party. They grabbed the table they had reserved and were joined by some friends. Yiftah’s girlfriend sat down beside him. The loud music made it difficult for the young people to hear each other.

The waiters wound their way between the tables, serving more and more drinks. The young people at the club drank joyfully, feeling as happy as can be. Suddenly, a youngster from another table approached and asked Yiftah’s girlfriend to join his friends at their table. She kept turning him down, but nothing she said helped. Yiftah told him to get lost, and his friends joined in, telling the boy to leave Yiftah’s girlfriend alone. It took seconds for things to turn ugly. Before they knew it, they were exchanging curses and threats. The annoying suitor, who has quite an extensive criminal background, finally returned to his table, and Yiftah and his friends were convinced that the whole incident was behind them. Just a few moments later, however, he was back, this time with his friends, and they all surrounded Yiftah’s table. Tables fell and physical threats were exchanged. The terrified girls started screaming. Finally, the bouncers came and asked everyone to leave. Instead of putting an end to the tussle, they moved it outside.