Rallies were held in protest of the July 30 stabbing of six people during the annual Jerusalem Pride parade.

The rally had already been planned to commemorate the death of two people in a shooting at a Tel Aviv youth center in 2009.

The president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin, gave a speech in support of the ongoing struggle against homophobia, and decrying the rising tide of homophobia in the country. ‘Every society has extremist fringes, but today we have to ask: what is it in the public atmosphere which allows extremism and extremists to walk in confidence, in broad daylight?’, he said.

‘Citizens of Israel, a Jewish and democratic Israel, democratic and Jewish Israel, needs a wake-up call today.’

Chen Arieli, head of Aguda – the Israeli National LGBT Task Force – told Haaretz: ‘In addition to being a memorial service, the [rallies] will convey a message of protest and struggle.

‘We demand a meticulous investigation of this incident and pray for the health of the injured.

‘Every hate crime must be condemned and action must be taken to achieve equality and security for each and every one of us, without any discrimination,’ she said.

The rally will be opened by the mayor of Tel Aviv, and former president Israeli president Shimon Peres gave a speech warning about the growing bigotry in Israeli society. ‘It should surprise no one that when some call the gay parade a parade of animals, that a 16-year-old girl is stabbed,’ he said.

On Thursday an ultra-orthodox Jew stabbed six people, seriously injuring two. He had only been released from prison three weeks before and had been jailed on a similar charge.

The assailant, Yishai Shlissel, had previously posted online about his opinions on Gay Pride as an ‘abomination’.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack, a: ‘Despicable hate crime‘.

In a prerecorded video which was played at one of the demonstrations, he said an attack on gay people was an attack on ‘all our children.’

Netanyahu said: ‘What happened in Jerusalem goes against the spirit of [the Jewish] people… We will continue to lead our country against hatred and homophobia.’

Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett said greater funding will now be afforded to fight anti-gay hatred.