Jerusalem Pride Killer Convicted Of Murder

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed participants in the July 2015 Gay Pride Parade in the capital, was convicted on Tuesday of murder and six counts of attempted murder by the Jerusalem District Court. The court in its ruling also slammed Israeli police apparatus for knowing about Schlissel and not stopping him. “It’s unconscionable,” the court said during the sentencing.

The stabbings horrified the country, garnered across-the-board condemnation from Israeli society, including from Orthodox religious figures, and drew international attention due to the ferocity of the attack and the footage that emerged of it. Schlissel, who was previously imprisoned for 10 years for stabbing three people at the 2005 Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade, was arrested during the stabbing rampage, just weeks after being released from jail.

He killed 16-year-old Shira Banki and wounded six others, who were named as Yarden Noy, Kfir Gil, Noam Eyal, Yael Belkin, Sagiv Satkolshtick and Sheli Bar Niv. Schlissel’s first attempt at infiltrating the parade was stopped by police. He managed to gain entry and launch the attack by joining it from a different street.

At his September indictment, Schlissel declared that he refused to recognize the authority of the court, saying that only God can judge him. After the stabbing rampage, police learned that Schlissel had called on local ultra-Orthodox groups to support his planned attack on the parade. He was admitted to a psychiatric hospital after his arrest, leading some to believe that he would never stand trial. Schlissel will be sentenced in June and faces life in prison.