The tragic shootings that have beset Arab-Israeli society in recent weeks – which should not be called crimes but actual terrorist acts – include the horrible killings of two women and a well-known journalist.
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These events once again prove that organized crime knows no limits. As long as the Israel Police drags its feet and the government doesn't demand action in no uncertain terms, and as long the Israeli Arabs continue to be complacent rather than rise up against this trend, the situation will only worsen.
The slain journalist is thought to have faced extortion by creditors who wanted him to repay his brother's loan. He was killed despite having nothing to do with this outstanding debt. The mother and daughter who were killed in Lod were also the victims of a crime that was not supposed to target them: The assassins wanted to kill the father, but he had already fled overseas.
Those who mistakenly thought that we had already reached peak brutality in this wave of criminal acts have been proved wrong once again. Those who kill a five-year-old boy or killed a young woman by planting a bomb in her car will only use more brutal tactics down the road. Too bad that the Israel Police, having lost its deterrence power, has only recently tried to show some resolve. This is too little and too late.
The first step a new government will have to take in this regard (assuming a new one is formed right after the Nov. 1 election) is to end the distinction between criminal and terrorist acts. It should announce much harsher measures in the penal code regarding arms trafficking, from a knife to a gun. Why should an Arab who aims their weapon at a Jew be subject to life in prison but if he points it at a fellow Arab he would get released after the two families hold a "making peace" event because the courts would consider this actions to be just a "one-off" mistake?
It's hard to admit that this is the case and to accept reality as it is, but had there been 75 Jews murdered in non-terrorist incidents since the start of 2022, heads would roll across the board in the Israel Police.
A State Commission of Inquiry would then be formed and all the emergency powers would be invoked from the British mandate era, including through administrative detentions. Israeli Arabs are considered to be part of the fringe of Israeli society because they live in far-flung areas, and therefore Israeli Jews by and large could not care less about what unfolds there.
The problems when it comes to crime among Israeli Arabs run deep, and involve a whole host of reasons, which include the lack of properly structured settings for Arabs after they graduate from school. It is also because they fell left out of the state's overall collective identity.
This is where Israel faces a real strategic challenge that is of no less severity than the Iranian threat. Because having Arabs continue to disconnect from the state will ultimately undermine the very foundations of Israeli society and things will unravel rapidly. The solution to this problem may not be in the Knesset, but the Israeli parliament can wield its influence.
The name of the game is identity politics: When an Arab lawmaker who dares to partake in the government and shape Israeli life is cast as a terrorist-sympathizer, Arab voters feel estranged even more, and their reality is anything but changed for the better.
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