Mourners remember Nir Katz's 'endless love'

Hundreds of people attended the funeral yesterday of Nir Katz, the volunteer for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transvestite Association, who was murdered Saturday night in Tel Aviv.

Katz's father, Ram, was killed in what is called first Tze'elim disaster in 1990 (in which five soldiers were killed during training), when Nir was seven years old.

Katz, 26, completed his military service in an elite intelligence unit a year and a half ago, and was living in Givataim with his partner, Thomas Schimdt. He was a student at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya. He had volunteered in the gay community in the past, and had recently begun working with young people.

"Nir would always say he wanted to give young people the support he never had at their age, when dealing with his sexuality," said Udi Raz, a friend. "He really lacked that support when he was a teenager, and it was important for him to help young people in the process they were going through."

Katz's mother, Ayala, said at the funeral that, "somehow, you run out of words. I'm standing here and thinking that Nir, too, would never have believed this was happening. Nir had endless love for every living creature ... with great respect for all walks of life and for everyone around him."

She concluded by saying that if each person left the funeral with just a tiny bit of the love and the ability to give that her son possessed, "it will mean the message of Nir's life has come across."

"I can't grasp this," said his little sister, Meirav, in her eulogy.

Their other sister, Chen, who had been living with Nir during recent months, brought a gay pride flag and placed it at the grave site.