Ultra-Orthodox grapple over response to parade attack
The majority of Israel's ultra-Orthodox community appears to hold Yishai Schlissel alone responsible for the death of Shira Banki, who was stabbed at a gay pride parade, claiming it is not the fault of his religion.
On July 30, Yishai Schlissel, an ultra-Orthodox Jew, stabbed six people attending Jerusalem’s gay pride parade. Sixteen-year-old Shira Banki later died from her wounds. The incident not only horrified the ultra-Orthodox community, it also caught it off guard.
The Jewish religion forbids murder and the harming of others. How, then, could a man from that community, a product of its educational system, attack participants at a gay pride event with a knife, not once but twice in 10 years? How could he claim that his motivations were religious?
The main questions the ultra-Orthodox community is asking itself are these: Does the community bear any responsibility that it should acknowledge, beyond condemning these events unequivocally? Could the fact that the murderer was raised and educated in ultra-Orthodox institutions play any part in encouraging the violence that led to murder given that his actions, according to him, were driven by religious motivations he had absorbed?
Those who claim that the ultra-Orthodox community has no reason to assume responsibility for the Schlissel case rely on the fact that the ultra-Orthodox educational system does not actively incite against the LGBT community. After a few failed attempts in the past, the ultra-Orthodox community has not demonstrated against the gay pride parade or initiated public gatherings to oppose it since 2008. In addition, the ultra-Orthodox leadership, rabbis and politicians alike, has not spoken out against gay organizations or activities in recent years.
