Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Life

Parents of Girl Killed at Jerusalem Pride March Urge Public to Attend Event

JERUSALEM — The parents of Shira Banki, the 16-year-old girl who was killed in an attack on participants in last year’s Jerusalem gay pride march, have called on the public to participate in this year’s march.

“After Shira’s murder, there were many voices saying that even though they don’t agree with the way of life LGTBQ community members live, and moreover they resist the concept of the Jerusalem Pride March- they still cannot accept violence as a legitimate demonstration of disagreement,” Ori and Mika Banki wrote  in a Facebook Wednesday.

“To all of these voices, and everyone who feels and thinks that way- we expect to see you march this year and in the years to come,” they wrote.

Shira’s parents invited participants in the march to bring flowers to place at the site where the 16-year-old was stabbed and 10 others injured by Yishai Schlissel, who had been released from prison several weeks before the parade after serving 10 years for a similar attack at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005. He was sentenced to life in prison in June in Jerusalem District Court, and ordered to pay compensation to Shira’s parents.

“Marching on Jerusalem’s Pride March is not just about showing support to the LGTBQ community, it is also about supporting ideas of tolerance and equality for all. To us it also means standing in resistance to violence as a way of solving any dispute or argument,” the Banki’s wrote.

“Shira was not a LGTBQ community member, she believed that every human being has a right to be treated like one, no matter his or hers sexual orientation, we all deserve to be treated respectfully certainly not with violence or disrespect,” the post said.

The 15th Jerusalem Pride March, which is being held in memory of Shira Banki, is scheduled for July 21. The march is produced by the Jerusalem Open House for Pride and Tolerance, a non-profit organization for the LGTBQ community of Jerusalem and surrounding areas.

“If we won’t stand up against them, the next murder is yet to come. If you care for a better society, a better Jerusalem and Israel- you must march with us at this year’s Jerusalem Pride March,” the post concluded.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.