An Anti-Gay Shooting Spree In Israel

Wockner is on it. A masked gunman opened fire at a center for gay youth in Tel Aviv, killing two, wounding eleven and leaving Israel's gay community terrified for their safety. The killer is at large. A moving account of the funeral of one of those murdered in cold blood is here. One of the victims, Nir Katz, seems a remarkable fellow:

“Nir came out of the closet when he was 20, and since that moment wore the flag of gay pride on his sleeve, believed in what he was doing and always walked with his head held high,” his sister Chen told Army Radio Sunday.

The place targeted was somewhere for gay youngsters grappling with their orientation. One of the victims was 17 years old:

The immediate family of 17-year-old Liz Trubeshi, the second victim of the attack, remained in their home Sunday and asked to be left alone by the media. But some family members and friends did talk. “This is very difficult for me,” Trubeshi’s aunt, Silvi Shalom, told Web site NRG. “Liz was a wonderful and beautiful child, with blue eyes… she was a little girl who hadn’t done anything to anybody.” “She was the victim of an insane, crazy person, and we don’t know how to carry on,” Shalom said. “We just can’t grasp it.”

More on those murdered here. The mourners called for displaying the rainbow flag as prominently as ever. The only response to this kind of violence is courage. Israel is one of very, very few places in the Middle East where gay people do not have to live in mortal daily fear. If they snuff out that beacon, the darkness will spread.