2009 Tel Aviv LGBT Youth Center Shooting

Bar Noar was a youth club operating in the basement of a building on Nahmani Street that housed offices of the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel. It served LGBTQ teenagers and young people questioning their sexual identity, along with counselors and instructors. A contemporaneous account described it as a place where alcohol was not served and said most people present escaped through a rear courtyard after the shooting began.[2]

The attack took place amid immediate uncertainty about why the club had been targeted. Early reports said police were examining both a possible hate-motivated attack and a personal dispute involving unrequited love. LGBTQ community leaders linked the violence to anti-gay incitement, while police had not established a motive. These possibilities were preliminary lines of inquiry, not findings about the perpetrator or the attack.[2]

The shooting became a defining event for the center’s community and for public discussion of LGBTQ safety in Israel. Its consequences included lasting physical and psychological injuries, public displays of solidarity, an extensive but ultimately inconclusive investigation, and continuing memorial and educational initiatives.[7][8]

At approximately 22:45 on August 1, 2009, a masked gunman entered Bar Noar and fired at people inside. Dozens of LGBTQ young people and their counselors were attending activities at the club, and many escaped through a rear courtyard.[2]

The attack killed youth counselor Nir Katz and 16-year-old attendee Liz Trubushi. The State Department’s 2009 and 2010 human-rights reports recorded 15 wounded.[1][9] Its 2013 report gave a figure of 10, while an Institute for National Security Studies-hosted article and a Mako account reported 11.[3][10]

The State Department identified Katz as 26 and Trubushi as 16.[1] An early Globes report instead called the counselor “Yaniv Katz” and gave Trubushi’s age as 17, while later Ynet and Mako reports identified them as Nir Katz and 16-year-old Liz Trubushi.[2][11]

The attack left survivors with physical and psychological injuries. One year later, 12 teenagers injured in the shooting presented an exhibition of 40 paintings about their memories. One participant, who had been shot in the arm, said two fingers on her stronger hand were paralyzed and that she had to learn to write and draw with her weaker arm. The exhibition included images of the attack as well as later experiences, including a first romantic encounter after the shooting.[7]

Chen Langer, a volunteer instructor at Bar Noar, was shot in the leg. In a later interview, he described the bullet visible in an X-ray as “a bullet of hatred” and spoke of psychological injuries alongside his physical scars. A 2020 report said Langer had died at age 32; it did not state that his death was caused by the shooting.[4]

Police launched an extensive investigation, but the gunman was not caught in the immediate aftermath. The State Department reported that the investigation remained a high priority at the end of 2009 and that the perpetrator had still not been found at the end of 2010.[1][9] Ynet reported that police invested millions of shekels, collected hundreds of statements, and summoned about 2,000 people for questioning.[11]

In October 2009, police arrested settler Yaakov Teitel after he posted signs praising the attack, but he was not charged with the killings.[9] Ynet later reported that Teitel admitted involvement during questioning, although police assessed that he was not the shooter and believed he might know who was responsible.[11]

After nearly four years of investigation, police announced arrests in June 2013. Authorities advanced a possible revenge theory connected to an alleged sexual assault of a suspect’s relative. Police alleged that Hagai Felician went to the club looking for a particular person and opened fire after failing to find the intended target.[12] Prosecutors indicted Felician on homicide and attempted-homicide charges on July 8, 2013.[3]

According to the indictment, Felician initiated the shooting to avenge the sexual assault of someone close to him by a club employee. The State Department reported that police believed the killings resulted from personal animosity, but said it remained unclear whether the victims’ sexual orientation motivated the shooter. The revenge theory was an investigative and prosecutorial allegation, not an established judicial finding.[3]

The prosecution depended heavily on a state witness whose account helped lead to Felician’s arrest. In February 2014, police arrested the chief witness on suspicion of fabricating evidence and obstructing justice. The State Department said the witness was critical to proving Felician’s involvement and motive and that the case collapsed as a result.[5]

The indictment against Felician was subsequently cancelled. Ynet reported that the witness, Zaor or Zohar Hankishayev, admitted offenses including obstruction of justice, fabricating evidence, obtaining something by fraud, and providing false information. Under a plea agreement, he received a five-and-a-half-year prison sentence. The collapse left the case without a prosecution establishing who carried out the shooting.[6]

In 2016, the state agreed to pay Felician’s family NIS 2.2 million in compensation after the charges were dropped.[6] In 2020, Ynet reported a separate settlement of about NIS 4 million for the families of the two people killed and three wounded survivors. The proposed allocation was NIS 2.5 million from Phoenix, NIS 750,000 from Tel Aviv’s municipal insurer, and NIS 600,000 from the state; survivor Jonathan Bux had previously received NIS 750,000 in a separate claim.[13]

In February 2019, Hankishayev gave police information about two people he said were connected to the shooting. Police investigated the claims but had made no arrests at the time and expressed doubt because he had previously lied to investigators. His lawyer said Hankishayev believed he had evidence, but the claims remained unverified allegations.[14]

The shooting drew public condemnation and expressions of support for Israel’s gay and lesbian community. President Shimon Peres urged police to make every effort to catch the gunman, saying that “murder and hatred are the two most serious crimes in society.”[2] Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were among the senior politicians who condemned the attack.[9]

A week after the shooting, tens of thousands gathered at Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square for a solidarity rally attended by Peres.[8] International organizations contacted Israeli LGBTQ groups to express sympathy, while Tel Aviv Pride organizer Adir Steiner said the community would continue fighting for the right to live without fear.[15]

The attack also prompted initiatives focused on education and remembrance. On August 30, 2010, the Tel Aviv municipality launched a program in city schools commemorating the shooting and addressing LGBT issues, including the prevention of discrimination.[9] The Association for Civil Rights in Israel awarded Katz its human-rights award in December 2009, citing his work at Bar Noar and other activities promoting understanding.[8]

The first Tel Aviv Pride Parade after the shooting began with a moment of silence. In June 2010, the Association held a fundraiser for injured survivors that raised about NIS 6,000. A proposed amendment to extend compensation for victims of hate-motivated violence was not adopted.[8]

Practical consequences included difficulty obtaining insurance for the youth organization. After the attack, Phoenix declined to renew its insurance, and other insurers also refused coverage, citing high risk. Harel later agreed to insure the organization.[8]

The shooting’s impact continued through the lives and work of survivors and relatives. The Aguda named its LGBT youth-support hotline after Katz, and his mother, Ayala Katz, became an activist for LGBT tolerance and acceptance.[16] She and her family drew strength from one another while responding to his death.[17]

Media coverage produced a further source of distress for some survivors. A 2019 anniversary report said television coverage disclosed the identities of wounded people, outing many young people on national television. Channel 2 later publicly apologized for its coverage.[16]

The shooting is remembered both as a deadly attack on an LGBTQ youth gathering and as a case whose central criminal questions remained unanswered. The gunman had not been caught in cited reporting published in 2020, and the collapse of the Felician prosecution left no judicial finding establishing the perpetrator or motive.[4][5]

The motive has been particularly difficult to establish. Early police discussion considered a hate motive as well as personal revenge, while community figures connected the attack to anti-LGBTQ hostility.[2] Later police and prosecutorial allegations emphasized personal animosity, but the State Department said it remained unclear whether the victims’ sexual orientation motivated the shooter.[3] The prosecution’s revenge account depended on a witness later implicated in fabricating evidence.[5][6]

The attack also prompted criticism of police conduct. An article hosted by the Institute for National Security Studies characterized the Tel Aviv district police’s handling of the case as a “near complete mishandling” and asserted that Felician had confessed.[10] The State Department’s 2014 report instead documented that the case collapsed because the state witness was critical to proving Felician’s involvement and motive; no court established Felician’s guilt.[5]

The unresolved criminal case did not diminish the documented public response, including educational programs, memorial events, support for injured survivors, and advocacy by Katz’s mother and other community members.[9][8] These activities kept the victims’ memory and questions of LGBTQ safety in public discussion.[17]

Published accounts differ on the number of people wounded. The State Department’s 2009 and 2010 reports recorded 15, while its 2013 report recorded 10.[1][3] The INSS-hosted article and several Israeli news accounts gave a total of 11.[10] Reports also vary in their rendering of Katz’s name and Trubushi’s age: an early Globes account used “Yaniv Katz” and gave Trubushi’s age as 17, while later reporting identified Nir Katz and gave her age as 16.[2][11]

Accounts also differ in how they frame motive and responsibility. Early reporting discussed both anti-LGBTQ hatred and personal revenge, while police and prosecutors later advanced a revenge theory.[2][3] That prosecution collapsed after the critical state witness was suspected of fabricating evidence. In 2019, the former witness supplied allegations involving two other people, but police expressed doubt and had made no arrests at the time.[5][14]

A Jewish Virtual Library timeline says police ruled out the possibility that the shooting was a terror attack.[18] That characterization does not resolve the separate question of whether anti-LGBTQ hatred motivated the shooter, which the State Department’s 2013 report described as unclear.[3]