Yehuda Stern
1st August 2009, 22:35
Two killed in shooting at Tel Aviv gay club http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gif By Haaretz Service and News Agencies http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gif Tags: Israel News (http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/tags/index.jhtml?tag=Israel+News) http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/tags/tag_arrow1.gif Report: Police launch manhunt for gunman who fled scene, close all gay clubs in city. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/0.gif
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A gunman shot dead two people and wounded at least thirteen others in an attack at a central Tel Aviv gay club Saturday night before fleeing the scene.
Israel Police said that the incident at the Ha'agudah club, on Nahmani Street, did not have a terror motive. The two victims were initially identified as a young man and a young woman.
Channel 10 television said a police manhunt for the gunman was underway in the city. The channel also said that the police have closed all the gay clubs in Tel Aviv.
Witnesses said the gunman entered the club at around 11 P.M. and opened fire in all directions with a handgun.
View Tel Aviv shooting attack (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=32.064983,34.776256&spn=0.005346,0.009023&msid=109293016992178810721.0004701a57b2fe0f2834e&source=embed) in a larger map
Magen David Adom emergency service said that four of the wounded had been taken for treatment to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, two of them in a serious condition.
Five other victims who were lightly hurt were taken to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.
Tel Aviv District Police chief, Major General Shahar Ayalon, said that there had been a gathering of young people at the club in which the attack took place. He said that police officers had been deployed across the area in the wake of the shooting.
Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz, Israel's only openly gay lawmaker, condemned the attack, which he called a hate crime.
"This is without a doubt the worst ever incident targeting the gay community in Israel. It has the characteristics of a hate crime, of someone who attacked to blindly strike out at every person on the spot."
An eyewitness said that he had been sitting at nearby Cafe Nior when he heard shots.
"We saw a woman running toward us covered in blood," Adi Shimoni told Channel 10. "We saw the gunman flee in the direction of Ahad Ha'am [Street]... He was wearing what looked like a ski mask."
Shimoni said that he had then entered the club, where "there were many wounded and a lot of blood."
Mike Hamel, the head of the Aguda, Israel's LGBT organization, said such an attack was unprecedented in Israel.
"We have joined those same 'civilized' countries in which hatred is the standard," he said. "I don't know whether the incident was directed at youth, but it appears that it was directed at the community. This is baseless hatred that cost us dearly ? this is what needs to be understood.
I must say I'm hardly surprised. The extreme right has been growing in Israel for a while. Add to that the extremely murderous homophobic atmosphere cultivated by religious groups when LGBT groups attempted to have a pride parade in Jerusalem a while back, and the strengthening of reactionary sentiments in Israel following the war on Gaza and the rise of the Nethanyahu government, and you have the perfect setting for a hate crime.
EDIT: What's incredible to me is that the community heads are apparently so surprised that this has happened. They may be Zionist liberals, but you have to be blind to not see the disgusting homophobic campaign conducted by the extreme right for the last couple of years.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/images/twitter1.gif (http://www.twitter.com/haaretzonline)
A gunman shot dead two people and wounded at least thirteen others in an attack at a central Tel Aviv gay club Saturday night before fleeing the scene.
Israel Police said that the incident at the Ha'agudah club, on Nahmani Street, did not have a terror motive. The two victims were initially identified as a young man and a young woman.
Channel 10 television said a police manhunt for the gunman was underway in the city. The channel also said that the police have closed all the gay clubs in Tel Aviv.
Witnesses said the gunman entered the club at around 11 P.M. and opened fire in all directions with a handgun.
View Tel Aviv shooting attack (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&ll=32.064983,34.776256&spn=0.005346,0.009023&msid=109293016992178810721.0004701a57b2fe0f2834e&source=embed) in a larger map
Magen David Adom emergency service said that four of the wounded had been taken for treatment to Tel Aviv's Ichilov Hospital, two of them in a serious condition.
Five other victims who were lightly hurt were taken to the Wolfson Medical Center in Holon.
Tel Aviv District Police chief, Major General Shahar Ayalon, said that there had been a gathering of young people at the club in which the attack took place. He said that police officers had been deployed across the area in the wake of the shooting.
Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz, Israel's only openly gay lawmaker, condemned the attack, which he called a hate crime.
"This is without a doubt the worst ever incident targeting the gay community in Israel. It has the characteristics of a hate crime, of someone who attacked to blindly strike out at every person on the spot."
An eyewitness said that he had been sitting at nearby Cafe Nior when he heard shots.
"We saw a woman running toward us covered in blood," Adi Shimoni told Channel 10. "We saw the gunman flee in the direction of Ahad Ha'am [Street]... He was wearing what looked like a ski mask."
Shimoni said that he had then entered the club, where "there were many wounded and a lot of blood."
Mike Hamel, the head of the Aguda, Israel's LGBT organization, said such an attack was unprecedented in Israel.
"We have joined those same 'civilized' countries in which hatred is the standard," he said. "I don't know whether the incident was directed at youth, but it appears that it was directed at the community. This is baseless hatred that cost us dearly ? this is what needs to be understood.
I must say I'm hardly surprised. The extreme right has been growing in Israel for a while. Add to that the extremely murderous homophobic atmosphere cultivated by religious groups when LGBT groups attempted to have a pride parade in Jerusalem a while back, and the strengthening of reactionary sentiments in Israel following the war on Gaza and the rise of the Nethanyahu government, and you have the perfect setting for a hate crime.
EDIT: What's incredible to me is that the community heads are apparently so surprised that this has happened. They may be Zionist liberals, but you have to be blind to not see the disgusting homophobic campaign conducted by the extreme right for the last couple of years.