Partner of slain Israeli ordered to leave

The partner of an Israeli man killed in an attack on a gay community center in Tel Aviv has been ordered deported. Thomas Schmidt of Germany, who has lived in Israel for six years, was contacted Feb. 6 by Israel\'s Interior Ministry to remind him that his visa offering him temporary resident status is expiring and he must leave the country by the end of the month, Ynet reported Wednesday.

[additional-authors]

Jewish Journal

February 9, 2011

The partner of an Israeli man killed in an attack on a gay community center in Tel Aviv has been ordered deported.

Thomas Schmidt of Germany, who has lived in Israel for six years, was contacted Feb. 6 by Israel’s Interior Ministry to remind him that his visa offering him temporary resident status is expiring and he must leave the country by the end of the month, Ynet reported Wednesday.

Schmidt, 27, was the partner of Nir Katz, who was killed in August 2009 in an attack on a community center for gay youth. Katz, a counselor, and a teenage girl were killed in the attack.

Schmidt has remained in close contact with the Katz family since his partner’s death. He has little contact with his family in Germany, according to the report.

The Katz family has appealed to the Interior Ministry to allow Schmidt, who came to Israel in 2004 as a volunteer, to remain in Israel. His visa already has been extended by nine months.

“My whole life is in Israel—my friends, my job, my family,” he told Ynet.