An estimated 20,000 people took part in the Jerusalem Pride parade yesterday, the city's 17th annual celebration and protest.
This year's parade paid special tribute to Shira Banki, a 16-year-old girl who was murdered shortly before the parade three years ago, with her parents laying a wreath at the spot where she was killed.
Banki was stabbed to death by Yishai Schlissel, a man who had just been released from prison having served 10 years for stabbing participants in the city’s 2005 pride march, reports Haaretz.
The parade came as members of the local LGBTIQ+ community continue to rally for inclusion in the country's surrogacy laws, after gay men were notably excluded from a recent amendment. Last month as many as 80,000 people demonstrated in Tel Aviv's Rabin Square, with mass protests and strikes held across the country.
According to Haaretz, opposition leader MK Tzipi Livni took part in the parade, alongside Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg.
"We'll be every place in Israel, not only for the LGBT community and the Druze, but for everyone," Livni said.
She continued: "We won't settle for parades, the real solution will be in legislation and in deep social and political change. But today is a great celebration."
Zandberg added: "This parade is the decisive answer to the rampant incitement against the gay community."
Late last month representatives for the LGBTIQ+ community in Israel presented a list of demands for "equality and freedom".
Chen Arieli, chairwoman of the Association for LGBT, told Hadashot news that if the community's demands were not met by the government, they would "continue the struggle, as we have been doing even before the big protest."
She continued: "The protest proved that we have strength in the field.”
“We need to take a position of strength and change the balance of power."
