Yishai Schlissel | |
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Born | 10 December 1975 Yad Binyamin, Israel |
Residence | Modi'in Illit, West Bank |
Nationality | Israeli |
Criminal penalty | 12 years in prison Payment of compensation in the amount of 280 000 NIS for the three victims Life plus 31 years in prison Payment of compensation in the amount of 2 064 000 NIS |
Children | 4 |
Motive | Religious convictions |
Conviction(s) | stabbed marchers during the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005 stabbed teenage girl to death and wounded others during the Jerusalem gay parade in 2015 |
Yishai Schlissel (also spelled Shlisel; Hebrew: ישי שליסל; born 10 December 1975) is an Israeli convicted criminal. He stabbed marchers during the Jerusalem gay pride parade in 2005, for which he served ten years in prison. On 30 July 2015, during the 2015 Jerusalem gay pride, he stabbed 16-year-old Shira Banki to death, and wounded six other people. The incident occurred just three weeks after his release from prison. On 24 August, Schlissel was indicted for murder, six counts of attempted murder, and wounding under aggravating circumstances, and detained until the end of proceedings. On June 26 2016, he was sentenced to life plus 31 years in prison, as well as pay NIS 2,064,000 (around $650,000) in damages.
Schlissel was born on 10 December 1975 in Yad Binyamin. His parents are the children of Holocaust survivors. He studied Talmud and was very religious as a child and teenager. He later studied in a kolel in Jerusalem.
In 2005, Schlissel stabbed three marchers during the gay pride parade in Jerusalem. As a result, he was convicted of "attempted murder and aggravated assault", and sentenced to twelve years in prison. In 2007, his sentence was reduced to ten years, and he was released in June 2015.
Shortly after his release in early July 2015, he distributed a homophobic letter in his hometown which read, "It is the obligation of every Jew to keep his soul from punishment and stop this giant desecration of God's name next Thursday." He was not tracked by the Judea and Samaria Police District because his previous crime had occurred in Jerusalem, outside of their jurisdiction. Moreover, Moshe Edry, the chief of the Jerusalem District Police, was not warned that Schlissel would be coming to Jerusalem.
On 30 July 2015, only three weeks after being released, he stabbed six marchers during the Jerusalem gay pride parade. The act was widely condemned, including by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. One of the victims, 16-year-old Shira Banki, died of her wounds at the Hadassah Medical Center three days later, on 2 August 2015. Shortly after, Prime Minister Netanyahu offered his condolences, adding "We will deal with the murderer to the fullest extent of the law."