Israel – Jerusalem Parade Victim Laid To Rest As Thousands Mourn

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    Friends of Shira Banki mourn around her grave following her funeral on August 03, 2015. 16-year old Banki was stabbed and critically wounded while participating in the Jerusalem pride parade last week, in an attack by ultra orthodox Jewish Yishai Schlissel, where five more were wounded. Banki passed away yesterday. Photo by Flash90  Israel – Amid an outpouring of grief, thousands attended the Monday night funeral of 16-year-old Shira Banki, who died on Sunday after being stabbed at last week’s Gay Pride Parade in Jerusalem.

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    Banki, a high school student from Jerusalem, was buried at Kibbutz Nachshon cemetery, near Beit Shemesh, outside of the capital.

    In an emotional eulogy, Banki’s parents, Milka and Uri, spoke of their daughter’s compassion, intelligence, and vitality.

    “We had four wonderful children, all of whom are intelligent, beautiful, kind, and especially, good friends to one another,” said Uri. “Now we are left with three children – with the pain, longing and shock that every parent would rather die than feel.”

    “We had a daughter who was blessed, had great genes and an excellent education,” he continued. “And we are not too modest to take credit for two out of three of these qualities.”

    Noting Shira’s formidable intelligence, her parents said they equally valued her “emotional intelligence.”

    While their daughter was not part of the LGBT community, her parents praised her for nonetheless supporting the rights of all people to live as they choose, as well as her message of love and tolerance.

    “We are proud of Shira’s achievements and know that everyone is in pain from her murder,” Uri continued. “This is a needless death of an innocent young girl.”

    Invoking their daughter’s legacy of tolerance, her parents emphasized that they do not blame the ultra-Orthodox community for a crime carried out by one mad man.

    “We want to say that we have no quarrel with the people with [the ultra-Orthodox],” he said. “Our quarrel is with intolerance – with hatred – and achieving goals at the painful expense of others.”

    President Reuvin Rivlin also honored Banki’s memory Monday night at a speech to thousands of teenagers attending an event marking the 90th anniversary of a General Federation of Students and Young Workers Movement in Haifa.

    “Shira was a girl of principles,” said Rivlin, noting that her family donated her organs to save other lives.

    “She joined the Gay Pride Parade in the name of the values ​​in which she believed – tolerance, equality, hope, and love. Her life, which was deliberately cut short, was that of a young citizen, who was involved, engaged, active, interested, and responsible.”

    The president went on to emphasize that every citizen must independently fight intolerance and incitement whenever it appears, and cautioned about the inherent dangers of indifference.

    “The battle against incitement and hatred does not begin and end with police protection,” he said. “When the murder has already occurred, condemnation and outrage will not help. Silence and indifference to both real and virtual threats will only increase the danger. We cannot wait for the moment of truth in order to fight hatred, incitement and violence.”

    To engender greater tolerance and compassion, Rivlin emphasized the importance of education.

    “Teaching tolerance and letting one define his or her identity must begin at school, within the tribe, in the nest, and in the youth movements,” he said. “We must act now to design and build a healthier social fabric which is stronger, more inclusive, and we must do so with your help.”

    Noting that the country is comprised of four wholly disparate “tribes” – the ultra-Orthodox, Arabs, the secular, and the national religious – Rivlin said his goal is not to “blur identities in a melting pot of enforced uniformity,” but rather to build a “partnership.”

    “Our national mission in this generation is to build a bridge of partnership between the tribes, or between communities, out of mutual respect, for the sake of those generations living together in the future,” he said.

    Baki died on Sunday afternoon while being treated at Hadassah University Medical Center’s neurosurgery department for a stab wound that blocked blood flow to her head, resulting in brain death.

    The suspect, Yishai Schlissel, of the West Bank community of Modi’in Illit, was released from prison three weeks earlier after serving a 10-year sentence for stabbing three people at the 2005 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade.

    After the attack, the Judea and Samaria District Police said it was not required to track Schlissel following his release, even though he lives in its jurisdiction.

    Jerusalem District Police head Asst.-Ch. Moshe Edri said a probe is being carried out to determine why police did not have actionable intelligence that Schlissel was at the parade.

    The committee overseeing the investigation is scheduled to issue its findings in two weeks, including which officers are to blame for the failures that took place.

    On Monday, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Banki’s murder was preventable and that he is overseeing a team charged with investigating the stabbing and presenting its findings to a committee to ensure it does not occur again.

    Additionally, citing the Friday death of an 18-month-old boy in the West Bank village of Duma during a hate crime allegedly carried out by Jewish settlers, Erdan condemned “religious anarchist extremists who believe country’s laws do not apply to them.”

    In the meantime, Banki’s parents said they will rebuild their shattered lives, while not capitulating to the unbridled hatred that took their daughter’s life.

    “Now we will go home and begin to build a new family, and to learn to live as five instead of six,” they said.

    “We will try to hate less and love more, and this is what we offer to everyone


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    6 Comments
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    shmielglassman
    shmielglassman
    8 years ago

    the torah does not allow such actions , this man is not mentally stable – pinchas was a tzaddik although the action was similar pinchas stabbed a jew to death in this case the niftar was not sinning but hashem is pained greatly by the gay parade

    8 years ago

    While no forum jew can condone murder, and this girl’s death was wrong and senseless, she shouldn’t have been there. She didn’t die for any good cause.

    LionofZion
    LionofZion
    8 years ago

    #1 and all of the other apologists: You can assume and infer all you want about people who join a gay parade. But if you really want to do justice, instead of packing the courtroom in their defense, why don’t you grab a knife and go stab some of the men who have molested young boys in our own community.

    CHANA1
    CHANA1
    8 years ago

    The president cautioned about “the inherent danger of indifference”. That can also be applied to the danger of ignoring the shame upon Jerusalem when Jewish born people March in such parade in our holy land.

    IpchaMistabre
    IpchaMistabre
    8 years ago

    People have a terrible mistake regarding gays and Judaism. Nowhere in the Torah does it say that you’re not allowed to be gay, only a certain action is prohibited. As a matter of fact, ask any Frum jew who is gay and he will tell you that being gay is the biggest curse that could’ve happened to them. People do not wake up one morning and decide that they want to be gay. It is unfortunately something they are born with and suffer a miserable life as being one thing and not being allowed to live the way nature intended them to. I guess it’s their Nisayon in this world.