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Israeli Teen Girl Stabbed In Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade Dies

© Flickr / U.S. Embassy Tel AvivPride Gay Parade 2012 No.132
Pride Gay Parade 2012 No.132 - Sputnik International
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Thursday's Gay Pride March in Israel took the life of a teenage girl, who was stabbed along with her friends by a suspect identified as an ultra-Orthodox Jew.

The 16-year-old girl, Shira Banki, died from injuries in a hospital on Sunday as she supported the annual gay pride parade taking place in Jerusalem and was heavily wounded in the back while her 5 friends were afflicted with light injuries.

The suspect attacker Yishai Shlissel, who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison for wounding three activists at the 2005 Gay Pride Parade and was released from prison just some three weeks ago, prior to the attack had posted a letter in social media urging the halt of "the abomination" of a gay pride march in the Israeli city of Jerusalem.

Police have launched into an investigation forming a special committee and responding to public outrage over the former prisoner being able to attend the march.

Bank's family said she was killed because "she came to support the rights of her friends and any person to live as they wish".

"For no reason and due to evil, stupidity and negligence, the life of our wonderful flower was cut off," they said in a statement.

The parade followed the death of a Palestinian child when his family was bombed by alleged Jewish settlers in the West Bank; that attack has brought pressure upon the Israeli government to intensify the fight against Jewish extremism.

© Photo : Shira Banki/FacebookFacebook photo of Shira Banki
Facebook photo of Shira Banki - Sputnik International
Facebook photo of Shira Banki

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized the attacks labeling the bombing an act of "terrorism"- what Israel officials commonly use only to describe Palestinian violence towards Israel.

Netanyahu slammed Banki's teen death saying "Shira was murdered because she courageously supported the principle that every person is entitled to live their life in dignity and safety".

The Israeli head of state was roundly rebuked for supporting right-wing settler groups while being unable to get Jewish extremists under control.

Israeli former president Shimon Peres during an anti-violence rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday night stressed that violence only begets more violence.

"Those who incite against Israel's Arab citizens should not be surprised when churches and mosques are set on fire, and when finally a baby is burned in the middle of the night", said Peres addressing Netanyahu who warned in March that Arab citizens  were being mobilized in great numbers at the ballot boxes.

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