One year after gay center attack, Tel Aviv studies Berlin model of tolerance
A march will be held Saturday night in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of a shooting attack in a Tel Aviv gay youth center that left two dead and 13 injured.
By Noah KosharekA march will be held Saturday night in Tel Aviv to mark the one-year anniversary of a shooting attack in a Tel Aviv gay youth center that left two dead and 13 injured.
The march will start at the corner of Rothschild and Nahmani streets (near the youth center ) and end at Gan Meir, where a rally will be held with the families of the victims, Nir Katz 26, and Liz Trobishi, 16, the injured and members and counselors of the gay youth center.
Ayala Katz, the mother of Nir Katz, who was a counselor at the center, and chairwoman of Tehila, a support group of parents of members of the gay and transgender community, will speak at the rally.
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A memorial in Be'er Sheva in 2009 after a shooting attack at a Tel Aviv gay center |
| Photo by: Eyal Toueg |
Next month a delegation of youth injured in the shooting will join Tel Aviv municipality officials and possibly Israeli police officials in Berlin to meet with representatives of Maneo, a group that provides support for gay and bisexual men who have been victims of violence, members of the Berlin police, German members of parliament and officials in the Berlin municipality.
The visit is sponsored by Maneo and is taking place in cooperation with the Tel Aviv municipality's gay center.
Adir Steiner, Tel Aviv municipality's coordinator of activities for the gay community, says the purpose of the trip is to learn the Berlin model for preventing and dealing with anti-gay violence.
The Berlin model has been adopted by other European cities, like Barcelona, Steiner told Haaretz. It is based on cooperation between Maneo and the authorities, particularly the police, which has two liaison officers to the gay community to deal with homophobic crimes, he said.
Steiner said if the model is adopted in Israel, Hoshen, a group working to change stereotypes about homosexuality and bisexuality and that trains professionals in matters pertaining to the LGBT community, would take the role of Maneo.
"Perhaps if we had started the project a few years ago, we would have documented manifestations of homophobia by the killer, who has not yet been caught, in cooperation with the police, and we might have identified him before the murder. Homophobia, like all hatred, begins small," Steiner said.
The chief of the Berlin police has reportedly invited Israeli police officers to take part in the delegation, particularly the Tel Aviv district youth officer. The Israel Police said they have not yet received an official invitation.
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Berlin is no model of tolerance - Maneo (gay switchboard agianst violence against gays) is needed because there is so much violence against gays in Berlin - in Hamburg, Cologne, Stuttgart or Munich there is no need for such a government body. In Berlin gays are only safe in some parts of town. The Berlin leader stresses that Berlin has no-go areas for gays, Jews, blacks. That is worse than what we have. We should rather study cities such as Cologne, Munich or Hamburg in Germany. According to the MANEO-website: violence against gays is on the rise in Berlin. Sad. Maybe we can help them?
Homophobia, like all hatred, begins small. Not true! The hatred of the actions that lead to homosexuality and thence to homophobia are from YHWH as stated in Leviticus 18:22, "Thous shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind: it is abomination." The God given penalty for homosexuality is given in Leviticus 20:13, "If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: They shall surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them." That is the Law of Moses given to Israel by YHWH. Quoted from the King James version of the Bible--you know where to find it in your Torah. No tolerance can be permitted for this act.
Leviticus 20:9- one that curseth his father or his mother shall be surely put to death:...his blood [shall be] upon him. Exodus 35:2- Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the LORD: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. I have seen no mass protests against stores open on the sabbath or children who curse their parents. Stop using the Bible as an excuse for your own hatred.
It isn't homophobia that I have, its YHWHphobia. The Fear of YHWH is the beginning of wisdom says King Solomon. Also lets not forget Sodom & Gomorrah
so in Germany: While Berlin, which has the biggest gay community in numbers (as a very big city) has a lot of cases of anti gay violence ... Cologne, Germanys "gayest" city - per capita almost twice as many as Berlin -. has a much lower number, even so it has a much higher percentage of migrant kids - which are often blamed for anti gay violence - in the city. I am not sure, if one can easyly adopt messures, as the actual situation (for example, a lot more people living in poverty in Berlin than in Cologne) differ so much ...
Yes Cologne and all other cities are much safer for gays than Berlin. Weird we travel to Berlin - Cologne or Hamburg are much more fun.
Have the police established that the crime was homophobic? What if it was a lovers' spat, or had absolutely nothing to do with sexual orientation? When three Jewish children were murdered did we assume the murderer was an anti-Semite paedophile? If a woman is shot do we assume she was shot by a misogynist?
in one year we have not heard one word on the killer, not "shooter".
That is a real switch. I think it interesting the Jews should be taught a lession from German's regarding how to be tolerant. I thought Jews invented tolerance. Maybe I was wrong,
yes sure mate ;-))), Jews invented tolerance. Here's a good exmaple of today's newspaper: """""Top settler rabbi arrested for allegedly inciting to kill non-Jews""""". that's to be veeery tolerant.
Sorry Jerome. Jew's don't win the prize on tolerance. Far from. Witness the right wing ultra-orthodox Jews who claim to know who's a Jew and who isn't, the 'situation' in Gaza, rightwing nuts running around attempting to kill non-Jews, the rampant homophobia...so no, we can't claim that we are a atolerant lot. Sadly.
...but Berlin is no example! Even today Jews get beaten up in Berlin every day.
What is your point? That Mr A is a coocoo? That's hardly any news. Or a justification for the inevitable mass slughter of civilians an Israeli/US attack on Iran would mean. But let's forget about IRan and concentrate on the killing iof gays in Tel Aviv (Israel).