It happened four years ago this week on Aug. 1, 2009. It was a summer night, Saturday, about an hour before midnight, when a man broke into a club where gay youths would hang out. The guests were teenagers who had come out of the closet and went out to have a good time at the Bar No’ar club, located in the center of Tel Aviv. Some of them were still hiding their sexual orientation from their relatives, but they all felt protected and safe at the club.
The intruder, dressed in black and wearing a black mask, pulled out a gun and started shooting at the revelers. Terrified screams reverberated in the hall. The young people were downed one after the other, like a set of bowling pins. Some of them cried for their mothers and fathers. Alas, there was no one there to hear their cries.