Yishai Schlissel

Schlissel stabbed three participants at Jerusalem’s Pride parade on June 30, 2005.[7] Before the march, religious leaders had protested against holding it, and on June 26 the Jerusalem District Court ordered the municipality to permit the event.[7] At the time of the attack, Schlissel was described as a resident of the ultra-Orthodox community of Kiryat Sefer.[8]

The indictment in the 2005 case stated that he had purchased an 18-centimeter knife for the attack.[8] Two of the victims were 18 years old and the third was 50; their injuries ranged from light to moderate.[8] During police questioning, Schlissel said, “I came to murder on behalf of God. We can’t have such abomination in the country.”[8]

Police charged him with three counts of attempted murder, and the Jerusalem District Court convicted him on January 31, 2006.[9] In its ruling, the court described his conduct as “extreme fanatical behavior” and said that he had decided not to let the parade end peacefully “at any cost.”[8] The judges found that his worldview rejected compromise, that he had no tolerance toward the participants, and that he understood he might pay a heavy personal price for his actions.[8]

The district court sentenced Schlissel to 12 years in prison and ordered him to compensate the complainants.[2] On appeal, his lawyers argued that he had acted automatically in response to a voice and did not remember the violence.[2] The Supreme Court rejected that account, citing expert opinions that he was responsible for his actions and that there was no evidence of psychosis or mental illness.[2] It nevertheless reduced the sentence to 10 years, in part because it found insufficient certainty about his criminal intent in the stabbing of one victim, Ligel Terzi, and substituted a lesser negligence conviction for that offense.[2]

Schlissel completed his 10-year prison term and was released weeks before the July 30, 2015, Jerusalem Pride parade.[2][3] During the weeks before the event, he spoke against it in media interviews and distributed notices in synagogues in Jerusalem neighborhoods and Kiryat Sefer.[10] In an interview published about two weeks before the attack, he called for extreme action to stop the parade, expressed regret that he had not had partners in the 2005 attack, and said he did not regret his actions.[10]

A letter attributed to Schlissel called on opponents to risk beatings, imprisonment, and danger in order to stop the parade.[10] The subsequent indictment stated that he opposed the event because it contradicted his understanding of Torah law.[11]

The indictment alleged that on July 30 Schlissel left his parents’ home in Moshav Yad Binyamin for Jerusalem after deciding to stab parade participants to death.[11] He had purchased a kitchen knife with a 15-centimeter blade.[11] Police officers at the Lincoln Street entrance told him to move away, after which he went to nearby Washington Street, concealed the knife in his clothing, and bypassed officers to enter the parade area at about 6:39 p.m.[11]

Schlissel attacked participants in the upper body before a police officer knocked him to the ground and stopped him.[11] The indictment charged him with Banki’s premeditated murder, six counts of attempted murder, and aggravated assault.[11] Banki, aged 16, died of her injuries a few days after the attack.[1] Authorities indicted Schlissel on August 23, 2015.[3]

After the 2015 attack, Schlissel refused to cooperate with investigators and repeatedly rejected legal representation.[11] He said he did not recognize the authority of Israeli courts because they did not follow Jewish law.[1] A court-ordered psychiatric examination found him fit to stand trial.[11]

On April 19, 2016, he was convicted of murder and multiple counts of attempted murder.[1] The Jerusalem District Court found him guilty of Banki’s murder, six attempted murders, and aggravated assault.[12][4] In its findings, the court stated that the evidence established that he had intentionally caused Banki’s death and attempted to murder six others, even though some of their injuries were superficial rather than life-threatening.[4]

During court proceedings, Schlissel said the parade should be stopped to “elevate Shira Banki’s soul” and claimed such marches brought harsh decrees on Israel.[11] His statements continued the religious justification he had offered before the attack, when he urged opponents to act against the parade and said he did not regret the 2005 stabbings.[10]

On June 26, 2016, the court sentenced him to life imprisonment with additional prison terms.[5][6] The additional terms comprised 30 years for the six attempted murders and one year for violating his release conditions.[6] The court also ordered compensation to the victims.[6] Judge Nava Ben-Or said that imprisonment had not changed his conduct and described him as dangerous.[6]

The Jerusalem District Court sharply criticized police preparations for the 2015 parade, finding that officers knew of the danger Schlissel posed after his release but that he had infiltrated the march with “unbearable ease.”[4] Its April judgment stated that lessons from the 2005 attack had not been implemented and that available intelligence and other information had not been used prudently.[4] Six senior police officers were removed from their posts as a consequence.[12]

The 2015 stabbing prompted public condemnation as a hate crime.[13] Robert Singer, chief executive of the World Jewish Congress, condemned the attack, saying, “The way in which individuals choose to express themselves should not make them targets.”[13]

Protests and court petitions against the Jerusalem parade continued in the years after the 2005 attack, but Israel’s Supreme Court allowed it to continue.[14] The 2016 parade was dedicated to Banki’s memory and was the largest Jerusalem had seen up to that point, with unprecedented participation by people from outside the LGBTQ community.[14]