Memorial Bar-Noar

On the evening of Saturday 1 August 2009, a masked gunman entered the basement of 28 Nahmani Street, where the Aguda ran its Bar-Noar (Youth Bar) drop-in centre for LGBTQ teenagers, and opened fire on the assembled group. Two people were killed: **Nir Katz**, a 26-year-old counsellor, and **Liz Trubeshi**, a 16-year-old visitor. Fifteen others were wounded. The killer was never conclusively identified — Israeli police closed the investigation in 2013 without charge — and no motive was legally established, but the attack is universally understood as Israel's worst anti-LGBTQ hate crime. The attack was a national inflection point. Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Peres visited Rabin Square the following night for a 20,000-person memorial rally; the Knesset passed the first Israeli hate-crime enhancement law within the year. Since 2010 a national moment of silence has been observed on 1 August; the Bar-Noar Youth Centre has continued operating under a new name (Beit Dror) at a different address. At 28 Nahmani Street, the ground-floor entrance carries a small granite plaque installed by the Tel Aviv-Yafo municipality in 2010 with the names of Nir Katz and Liz Trubeshi. The building is a Bauhaus-era five-storey block; the ground floor is now a private residence, and there is no public interior to visit. The plaque is at eye level, visible from the pavement. The memorial is best visited quietly. Come during the day; sit for a moment on one of the Nahmani Street benches. This is Israel's gay heritage's most difficult single site, and it deserves the visit. Combine with a walk five minutes north to Rabin Square, where the community rally happened.