More than 70,000 people thronged Tel Aviv on Saturday evening for an event to express solidarity with the gay community after the deadly attack on a gay youth center last week.
President Shimon Peres led political leaders in the show of support and spoke from a podium decorated with the rainbow flag.
“The bullets that hit the gay community at the beginning of the week struck us all as people, as Jews, as Israelis … criminals will not set our agenda,” Peres said in a speech.
Peres mentioned the two Israelis killed in the attack, Nir Katz, 26 and Liz Trobishi, 17, saying “the person who pointed a pistol barrel at Nir Katz and Liz Trobishi pointed it all of you, all of us, at me.”
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“The creator of the world did not endow anyone with the power to murder his peer,” Peres said, adding “every person must fight against murder.”
Related: Gunman Kills 2 in Attack on Tel Aviv gay youth center.