'Proud member.' Horowitz addresses plenum
Photo: Gil Yohanan
'Chance to prosper.' Tamir
Photo: Dudi Vaaknin
MK on anti-gay shooting: Society must come out of the closet
Lawmakers say Saturday's deadly attack at Tel Aviv gay center manifestation of society's 'racist attitude' toward minority groups, including Arabs, foreign workers
"I am a proud member of the gay community. I don't know what went through the mind of the shooter at the or what was torturing his soul, but I do know one thing: The shooter wanted to hurt as many people as possible, just because the belonged to a certain social group," Knesset Member Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz) said Monday during a special Knesset session on Saturday's attack at the gay and lesbian center in Tel Aviv, which left two people dead a several injured.
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"The incident hurt not only the gay community but Israeli society as a whole," Horowitz continued, "It hurt every citizen's right to live in Israel according to his or her beliefs and values."
MK Dov Khenin (Hadash) told the plenum, "I don’t know the killer's identity, but I do know that something bad is happening within Israeli society. There is a connection between the racist attitude towards Arabs and Ethiopians and the racist attitude towards gays and lesbians.
"A society that is capable of arresting and deporting children of foreign workers is a society in which something bad is brewing," the leftist lawmaker added.
During the session, former Education Minister Yuli Tamir (Labor) said Israeli society "must come out of the closet."
"We must tell (gay) children that there are people in their school who will listen to them; it's part of our duty as adults who want to give the younger generation the opportunity to prosper in this country," she said.
The Labor member continued to say that "I truly hope this incident will teach is something about the terrible power of hatred and of people who have no limits."
