A gay couple in Tel Aviv were attacked in their own apartment on Monday morning, when a neighbor broke the shutter of their window and threatened to kill them. The attack comes amid a surge of hate crimes against the LGBTQ+ community in Israel, with the Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel (Agudah) reporting daily reports of violence and discrimination.
The couple filed a complaint with the police, and the neighbor was detained. However, the incident has sparked widespread concern among LGBTQ+ organizations in Israel, who are demanding that the police take stronger action against hate crimes targeting the community.
The Agudah, which represents the LGBTQ+ community in Israel, has called for harsher penalties and a police strategy to protect the community from further attacks. “Members of the LGBTQ+ community are not the punching bag of extremists,” said Hila Peer, chairperson of the Agudah. “This is a reality we will not accept. We will not be silent and will not allow the neglect of our right to live in full security in our country.”
Homosexuals were one of the groups targeted by the Nazi regime during the Holocaust, and between 5,000 to 15,000 men were sent to concentration camps as “homosexual offenders.” The pink triangle that homosexuals were forced to wear in the camps has become a symbol of the LGBTQ+ rights movement.
The attack in Tel Aviv comes just weeks after an investigation into the throwing of stones at an apartment with an LGBTQ+ pride flag was closed, despite the suspects being photographed in multiple videos.
The LGBTQ+ community in Israel has long faced discrimination and violence, and the recent surge in hate crimes has only heightened concerns. “I feel unsafe on the most extreme level possible,” said Oded, one of the victims of the attack. “I have lived in Tel Aviv for ten years and have never experienced a homophobic attack. Only in the last few months have we come across it in protests, in recordings I receive and the peak has now come when they tried to break the window of our house, our most protected space.”
The Agudah has sent an open letter to Israel Police chief Kobi Shabtai, demanding an urgent meeting and stricter penalties for LGBTQ+ hate crimes. “We demand to exhaust the legal procedures with the offenders, to be strict against attackers with LGBT-phobic motives and to hold an emergency meeting with the LGBTQ+ community’s organizations in order to create a police strategy allowing the community to live without real fear for its life,” the letter stated.