The level of violent crime in Israel is much lower than in most cities in the West, but it is quickly becoming a serious problem. Teenagers kill each other. Organized crime is on the rise. And the authorities are nowhere to be found. Regular police patrols in crime-ridden areas are few and far between, and if someone is actually arrested and convicted, the odds are the sentence will be hardly more than a slap on the wrist.
Last week violent crime struck again. Enjoying their time by the Kinneret, visiting American college students were inexplicably attacked. Although having suffered serious injuries, one is still planning on leading a birthright-Israel trip after graduation. Nevertheless, he is concerned regarding the investigation of this incident. “If nothing happens, I don’t know how I’ll feel safe,” he said from his hospital bed. Most likely little will happen, unfortunately. All but one of the suspects fled the crime scene.
Safety has become a rare commodity in too many places. Bialik’s threshold for becoming a normal state has long since been passed – no one is pining for the first Hebrew criminal. Israel does not have a culture of law and order, partly because people know they can get away with so much. The courts are no help, handing down meager sentences that do not serve as real deterrents, not even for the convicts themselves.
Furthermore, this case specifically would be a PR nightmare. Thankfully for the inept state authorities, it seems all of the major Hebrew-language papers have decided this attack was not newsworthy. American Jews constitute the largest diaspora Jewish community. Setting aside the issue political support, if they are in danger of other Jews in the Jewish state, how will they ever believe aliyah is the right move?
Israel Police needs to start doing its job. Judges need to start sentencing violent criminals to long sentences, with no incomprehensible furloughs. Not just for tourists, but for Israelis. Israel needs to be more than a haven for Jews but sadly, from (some) Jews, as well.
Yet a worsening of the situation seems inevitable for a few reasons:
1) Israelis envy of all things American. Tel Aviv is building tall condo buildings like crazy. More and more English on the signs. Cable TV. And now crime. An inevitable progressoin
2) If I’m a Chiloni guy on the news watching how the Chareidim and Arabs riot, I might start thinking: how come I gotta behave?
3) In a culture where everything is protektzia and who you know, not what you’ve accomplished, why wouldn’t disenfranchised people turn to this?