Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz’s speech following the attack on the Gay and Lesbian Association

New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz's speech to a special session of Knesset, discussing the attack on the Gay and Lesbian Association in Tel Aviv; August 2, 2009
(unofficial translation)

Mr. Speaker,

Thank you for [convening] this special session today.
My fellow Members of Knesset,

People were murdered in Israel because they respected their fellow men and women, and showed human kindness.

Liz Trubeshi, not yet 17, from Holon and 26 year-old Nir Katz from Givatayim.  Good people, victims of a blind shooting, criminal violence.  [They] met their death because they didn't back away in the face of prejudice, and they wanted to defeat hatred.

Nir was a social activist, a counselor for teenage boys and girls, who dedicated all his energy to boys and girls facing hardship.  This small apartment [where they were killed] - the offices of the Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association - was their refuge.  Nir was there, every week, to help, to provide support - Nir was there and that's why he was murdered.

Liz was a nice, friendly teenager, pure of spirit - she loved all her friends, among them lesbians and gays, she respected them, she accepted them as they are, and she went with them to the youth activity where Nir was a counselor.  She was there, and that's why she was murdered.

Yesterday they were laid to rest; their families are now sitting Shiva.

From this place, the Knesset, I wish to send them my condolences - dear people, may you know no more sorrow.

Lying in the hospitals are those wounded by the gunfire ... 17 year-olds, 20 year-olds - they were shot because they came to a place which for some was the only place in the world where they could feel whole, to be who they are, securely - without ridicule, without humiliation, without prejudice, without persecution, without discrimination [that they experience] at school, in the army, sometimes with their families ... They went there and they came out bleeding.

For some, the pain is double or even triple - physical pain, the serious wounds; the pain and sorrow for their murdered friends; and in some cases, the pain in their family relations, facing family members who had to learn this way that their daughter or son is gay or lesbian.  Young women and young men who hid it from their family or their teachers, or from friends at school - due to apprehension and fear - fear of being mocked; fear of being punished; fear of being fired; maybe even fear of being beaten up.

But fear of a shooter spraying bullets all over - this, I assume, was not part of their, our, assortment of fears - now this fear, too, accompanies us all.

To the wounded, I send wishes for a speedy and full recovery.  We are with you.

I also want to thank all the dedicated activists - first and foremost the activists of the Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association for their wonderful activity for so many years, especially among adolescents, and all the other organizations ... that give a soul to Israeli society.  We are all greatly indebted to them.

I did a lot of thinking before this session about what to say here - how I might, in a few minutes, tell about the gay community, about its achievements, about the difficulties, about the challenges for the future - what to tell the youth, what to tell parents and friends, what to say to you, Members of Knesset.

So I'll begin with a few words of a personal nature.  I'm a proud member of the gay community.  (Note: In Hebrew, ‘gay', in the sense of sexual preference, is rendered as "Ga'eh" - literally "proud".)  I was an activist in it for many years; I wrote a column for the community's newsletter; I have marched in all the Gay Pride marches, including the march in Jerusalem, four years ago, when a man burst out with a knife and tried to murder the participants.  I saw the wounded lying on that burning hot road ... Yesterday I saw other wounded, at Ichilov Hospital, they, too, the victims of intense hatred, blind hostility.

I don't know what was going through the mind of the stabber at the Pride March in Jerusalem, and I don't know what was in the heart of the shooter at the Association's offices in Tel Aviv.  I don't know who he is or what his background was or what was tormenting his soul.  Was he full of vengefulness?  Was he consumed by self-hatred?  Was he sent on a mission?  I only know one thing: They wanted to hurt as many people as possible, blindly - not a specific victim, not a certain person, just to hurt, to do away with as many people as possible just because they belonged to a particular group.  Because whoever entered that basement apartment knew exactly what it serves and who the people there were.

This is a hate crime.

And therefore I am not pointing my finger at any individual.  I am pointing my finger at the hatred.

It doesn't matter who committed the murder - someone from outside the [gay] community or even one of its members - he did it out of terrible hatred and animosity for the community, perhaps even self-hatred, which is the harshest kind of all.

And I ask - how does a person reach such a mental state; what atmosphere and social views create such hostility in a person towards an entire community that makes him go berserk with a knife at the Gay Pride march and try to murder marchers; or enter a social gathering of youth, masked and with a gun, and shoot randomly in order to kill as many gays and lesbians as possible - innocent young men and women that he didn't even know?

And this happens time after time - incidents in Jerusalem and in Eilat, in downtown Tel Aviv and on the beaches of the Sea of Galilee - countless cases of bullying and harassment, humiliation and ridicule.

And this has been going on for years!...

I have been in that apartment, too, more than once, and I have taken part in many stormy discussions and social events that were held in that basement apartment, in a completely average Tel Aviv apartment building, no flashy sign or fancy entrance.

This place, where the murder happened, is called "Pazzi's House" - and I want to tell you about this man, Ya'akov Pazzi, who passed away seven years ago at age 75.

Ya'akov Pazzi was born in Germany to an affluent religious family.  At 3, just before the Nazis came to power, his family left Germany and moved to France.  After France was occupied by the Nazis, his father was taken to a concentration camp, never to return.  The rest of the family began to roam.  Eventually, they fled to Switzerland, where they were housed in a refugee camp.  When World War II, Pazzi immigrated to the Land of Israel and settled on Kibbutz Yesodot.

In 1975, at a time when gays and lesbians lived in hiding, Pazzi, together with other activists such as Theo Maintz and Danny Lachman and a few other friends, set up the "Association for Individual Rights", the former name of the Israeli Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Association.  For Pazzi, creating the Association was the realization of a dream.  He regarded it as a real Exodus - from slavery to freedom, from darkness to great light.

Pazzi would do everything at the Association - from cleaning through clerical work ... He organized Association hikes to various parts of the country and was active for many years on the War on Aids Committee, primarily handling the needs of the ill and needy in their dealings with ... the government bureaucracy.

By trade, he was a driving instructor, a humble and modest man, and extremely affable.  When he left driving instruction, Pazzi became a caregiver for the elderly, which is what he did until his final day.  When he left us, Pazzi bequeathed all his wealth to the Israeli Gay and Lesbian Association, to which he had dedicated his life.

Since then, the Association's office has been called "Pazzi's House".

And it really was a house, a real home - a home for adults and those who were lonely, a home for adolescents, a place in which they didn't have to hide or be scared.

The worst thing that could happen as a result of this tragedy is that we'll now become preoccupied with security and police, and we'll lay down rules for protection and defense.  And we'll live in fear.

No way, no how.

If someone thinks that the gay community will now close itself off, go back underground, re-enter the closet - he's wrong.  The community will lift its head, with pride, and will only expand its activity, and will reach more people who need its help and support.

...

But this must not be a concern of the gay community alone, because it was not the only victim here ...

What happened at the Association's office, at Pazzi's House, is a turning point.  Because the attack there wasn't only an attack on the gay community.  It was an attack on all Israeli society, on our most basic values as a democratic, caring society.

This is an attack on the right of any person in Israel - regardless of origin, religion, creed, color, gender, sexual preference, political viewpoint - to live life in accordance with his beliefs and outlook.

... I get asked: But why are they different?  Why do they need to set themselves apart? ... Some even say - "Didn't the community really bring this upon itself since it goes out and demonstrates and conducts public events?"

This is the most terrible thing to say.  This is the 11th plague.

To blame the victim: You were murdered, you were persecuted because you're different.  If you weren't different from us, if only you were like us - you wouldn't have gotten hurt.  To say something like this is a justification of the attack, a justification of violence.  Through history, including our history, that of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, some have repeatedly tried to justify an attack on a particular community because it's different and is perceived as setting itself apart ...

This is what we are coming out against - against the desire to hurt he who is different, against racism and hostility ...

This is the basic value that is being tested here.  This is the real goal of a hate crime, any hate crime: To kill tolerance, to get ride of mutual respect, to shatter democracy, to turn this place into a place that is evil and bitter.

Because violence erodes the foundations of democracy.

Consequently, all of us, regardless of differences or partitions, must expel this hatred from inside us; we must reinforce respect for others; we must understand that in a country like ours, with so many groups, religions, communities, beliefs - we must respect the other, the one who is different from you, to allow freedom of expression, freedom of assembly, freedom of thought.

... This building is the crown jewel of democratic values.  But even here, much too often and for many years, we have heard expressions of hostility for one group or another, and yes, for the gay community as well.  It's as if we've grown accustomed to the verbal abuse, the curses, the defamation.

But this is exactly the type of thing that creates and reinforces the harsh atmosphere of prejudice, the fear of exposure, and the great hardships of so many people in this country due to their preference and their love, so many people who live in fear, paralyzing fear, who live in hiding - and these people are secular and religious, Arabs and Jews, settlers and dwellers of central Israel, immigrants and ‘old-timers'; members of all the ethnic communities, all the social strata, and all the political opinions - the fear of what might happen in the family, of what they'll say on the job, of what they'll do to them on the street.

The way to uproot this fear starts first of all in the education system - I ask the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education to give all segments of the education system the tools to deal with prejudice, to educate towards democracy and tolerance ...

It is unthinkable that are entire educational sectors in the State of Israel in which this topic is taboo, not to be mentioned.  We need to break the conspiracy of silence, and put an end to fear.

And we'll put an end to this fear.  We need to do everything here so that no one in the State of Israel is afraid to live his life in accordance with his beliefs, values and path.  And whoever assaults this freedom ... must be thrust out.

There is hope that this event will stem the public apathy, will halt the silence.

Because this is not our way, and this is not the way of the State of Israel.  [As it says in Israel's Declaration of Independence]:  "The State of Israel ...will be based on freedom, justice and peace ...it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture"

So all of us, all the free people, need to unite and stand strong in order to protect our freedom so that we can truly be, "a free people in our land - land of Zion and Jerusalem".