Family of Pride Parade Stabber Banned from City During March

Image by Getty Images

By JTA July 20, 2016

The family of the man who went on a deadly stabbing spree at last year’s Jerusalem Pride parade has been banned from the city during this year’s march after being detained by police.

The brother of Yishai Schlissel, who stabbed six marchers at last year’s parade, killing a 16-year-old girl, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of planning an attack on this year’s march, which is scheduled for Thursday. Michael Schlissel will be kept in prison until after the march, according to reports. Yishai Schlissel, 40, is serving a life sentence.

Their mother and four other siblings have been ordered out of Jerusalem until after the march as well, though their home is in the city. They were all questioned by police on Wednesday, according to reports.

Yishai Schlissel, who is haredi Orthodox, had been released from prison several weeks before the 2015 parade after serving 10 years for a similar attack at the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005. In the days leading up to last year’s parade, Schlissel expressed his opposition to the march in interviews and in ads in haredi synagogues in Jerusalem and Kiryat Sefer.

Police initially turned away Schlissel at an entrance point to the parade, but he found a way in later in the route.

The parade is to be held under tight security and is dedicated in memory of last year’s victim, Shira Banki.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO