A resident of Tel Aviv was indicted on suspicion of threatening to kill gay men and attack transgender people, the Tel Aviv District Attorney's Office announced on Thursday.
In May, Elran Rahmani called a center for transgender women in Tel Aviv claiming he wanted to donate items to the center but then used a derogatory term for transgender people and demanded the address of the center.
After being told that the address was confidential, Rahmani stated "You understand that...you take part in and actually help people to cut themselves and injure themselves and make themselves disfigured."
Rahmani threatened the employee speaking to him, saying "When I get to you you will know, I promise you you will know" and "you do understand that you are going to be stabbed, right?"
Israel Police opened an investigation after the conversation was reported to them and arrested Rahmani. During the arrest, Rahmani repeatedly threatened the policeman arresting him, saying "I'll kill the first homosexual I see, you led me to do it."
Rahmani additionally stated that he would drive his car at 180 km/h and carry out a ramming attack against homosexuals. While being questioned, the defendant again used derogatory terms for transgender people, said that homosexuality warrants the death penalty and said "A man in a dress is not normal."
Attorney Pamela Binyamin, who filed the indictment, stressed that "the content of the conversation shows that these are not just words, the respondent's attempt to find out the location of the center shows his intention to go there, in order to carry out the threat he made later in the conversation."
Rahmani is being charged with the crime of making threats motivated by hostility towards a sector on the basis of sexual orientation.
Homophobic incidents continue throughout Israel
The incident is the latest in a series of incidents of homophobia and threats against the LGBTQ community in recent months.
In the days leading up to the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance March earlier in June, three Israelis were arrested for making threatening comments concerning the March.
In April, a gay couple was attacked in their apartment in Tel Aviv, when a neighbor broke the shutter of their window and threatened to kill them.
Additionally, in April, stones were thrown through the window of an apartment in Tel Aviv where a Pride flag was hanging during a right-wing protest in the city.
3,309 cases of LGBTQ-phobia were reported in 2022, an 11% increase compared to the previous year. There was a seven-fold increase in the number of LGBTQ-phobic incidents involving public figures and the media, a five-fold increase in the number of LGBTQ-phobic incidents in public places and an eight-fold increase in cases of discrimination at businesses.
A survey by the Israeli Institute for Gender and LGBTQ Studies in May found that a vast majority (86%) of LGBTQ+ Israelis across the country report that their sense of security has deteriorated in the prior three months. 77% of the respondents stated that they do not trust the police to protect them.
According to the Agudah - The Association for LGBTQ Equality in Israel, in March there was a four-fold increase in LGBTQ-phobic incidents compared to last March.