ISRAEL: Jerusalem Pride Stabbing Survivor Says Police Have Botched The Investigation, Lost Evidence

Twenty-five year old Jerusalem Pride stabbing survivor Yarden Noy says that Israeli police have made multiple blunders following last month’s attack. The New York Daily News reports:

Noy handed over his blood-soaked shirt to paramedics and gave a fresh statement to police after Yishai Schlissel drove a knife through his ribs from behind and punctured his lung during last month’s assault. He was told that his shirt, as well as his words, was misplaced. Investigators waited until the end of Noy’s five-day hospital stay — as he left for 16-year-old Shira Banki’s funeral — to reveal they lost his testimony, the Hebrew University law student told the Daily News. Investigators also phoned him to request photos of his already-healing stab wounds, which detectives failed to document the night of the attack. “It showed a bit of negligence and amateur behavior that worried me,” Noy said. His gripes have left a sinking feeling that authorities failed him and the other victims by setting Schlissel loose in the weeks before the attack — and they could fail again. Noy, who is one of six people stabbed at the July 30 parade, is now concerned that the apparent disregard for evidence could hamper the ultra-Orthodox assailant’s prosecution. “We all feel — know — the police failed that night. We all fear that they might fail again and not do their job as well as they should,” Noy told The News.

Noy, who is straight, says that he decided to attend Jerusalem Pride because he’d had so much fun at Tel Aviv Pride earlier this summer.