Not long after Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, called on his people to "vigorously fight manifestations of hate," high schooler Shira Banki was fatally stabbed during a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. While only a 16-year-old teen, Banki was also already a gifted pianist.
The teenager was one of six people stabbed Thursday by Yishai Shlissel, an Orthodox Jew who had been released from prison on earlier charges of stabbing marchers at a 2005 gay pride parade, CNN reports.
Banki's family said in a statement:
"Our charming, happy, lively and beloved 16-year-old Shira was murdered just because she came to support her friends and any person's right to live their life their own way. With no purpose but with stupidity, evilness and recklessness, her life came to an end."
Netanyahu addressed the stabbing in his weekly Cabinet meeting and said that this incident along with another attack, in which an unrelated act of arson in the West Bank claimed the life of 18-month-old Ali Saad Dawabsha, represented "abhorrent crimes."
Also, the Prime Minister criticized the Palestinian Authority, saying:
"This is what distinguishes us from our neighbors. We deplore and condemn these murderers. We will pursue them to the end. They name public squares after the murderers of children. This distinction cannot be blurred or covered up. It is important to say this even as we utter our condemnations and unite against the criminals among our people."
Regardless of the politics, Banki is ultimately being seen as a symbol for the "manifestations of hate" that permeate the LGBT community domesticly and abroad.
The teenager was a gifted pianist who was a student at the Bet Hakerem music school.
As Norman Lebrecht says, "No words can express humanity's contempt for her murderer."
Remember her fondly with a performance by the player below.
