An Arab man who stabbed and severely wounded his homosexual teenage brother on Friday afternoon outside an LGBT youth hostel in Tel Aviv is still at large and the police are still searching for him.
The attacker stabbed the 16-year-old boy in the chest and legs and fled the scene, in an apparent attempt at a family honor killing. The victim told the paramedics that the attacker was his brother.
The stabbing took place outside of the Beit Dror center, where the victim was living. The center is a temporary shelter providing home conditions for LGBT members who are endangered in their homes.
Paramedics rushed the victim to Ichilov hospital in serious condition, where he underwent surgery that stabilized his condition.
The victim is from the Arab town of Tamra and has been under attack by his family for being gay. The conservative Arab society often does not accept gay people and often hounds them.
However, The Israeli LGBTQ+ Youth Organization (IGY) called the stabbing a hate crime and attempted to tie it to previous crimes against gays.
“Exactly 10 years after the murder at Bar Noar, today an LGBT youth was stabbed while exiting a shelter. We pray for the wounded teen and stand with Beit Dror in this difficult time. This stabbing was no coincidence. This is a hate crime against the LGBT community as a whole. This is the price for the incitement and LGBT-phobia we hear all the time,” IGY claimed.
Some politicians took their allegations a step forward and claimed that the stabbing was a result of the incitement of Jewish rabbis.
“The horrific acts of stabbing an LGBT teen by his brother and threatening of MK Eitan Ginzburg [who is gay], just because of their sexual orientation, reminds us of that the hate and ignorance towards the gay community is still here, and is encouraged by the hatred of rabbis, who don’t understand the damage they do,” tweeted Yael German, MK for the Blue and White party.