Oops, we did it again
If someone on our side shoots/stabs/beats someone to death, it’s by mistake. Not like the other side – they’re natural born killers. And we buy it time after time
State your area of expertise? Rafi Kedoshim is shown at the May 4 meeting of the Special Committee for Children’s Rights at the Knesset in Jerusalem. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Birthday cakes adorned with nooses are jarring. At least they should be. Yet nooses are exactly what the birthday boy, Minister for National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, freshly turned 50, would like to install in jails housing Palestinian security prisoners.
It could happen, too. At the end of March, the Knesset passed legislation sponsored by Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party that will mandate death by hanging within 90 days for Palestinians convicted in connection with deadly terror attacks.
Why Palestinians? Because the new law stipulates that only military courts can impose these sentences, and that’s where Arab residents of the West Bank are tried.
“No more revolving door for terrorists but a clear decision,” Ben Gvir declared jubilantly when the law passed by a final vote of 62 to 47. “Whoever chooses terrorism chooses death!”
Not, mind you, if you’re an Israeli accused of terrorism. You’ll be tried in a civilian court and, if past performance is any indicator of the future, you’ll probably be given a sentence many would describe as at least leaning toward lenient.
(This, of course, is for now. Israeli law does carry a provision for the death penalty, although it is worded in a way that might seem to exempt Jews. We also know that slippery slopes almost always lead to addendums, riders and amendments, and that Ben Gvir lacks a fondness for Israeli Arabs as well. So watch this space.)
WHEN DO WE KNOW that unbalanced government policies are filtering down into our bedrock civics? When the generals start speaking like Ben Gvir.
Maj. Gen. Avi Bluth oversees the IDF’s Central Command, which for all intents and purposes runs the West Bank. Bluth is said to have recently told a closed forum that the army handles Jewish and Palestinian stone-throwers differently.
While the IDF’s use of live fire is okay when employed against Palestinians, he feels that Jewish soldiers firing real bullets at fellow Jews would lead to “sociological consequences,” according a report in the Haaretz daily. Bluth failed to issue a denial of Haaretz’s account.
The report, which did not identify the forum or the circumstances surrounding the remarks, added that Bluth referred to arrest procedures with a bit of levity by saying that unless their lives are in immediate danger, soldiers are allowed to aim for the lower leg, and that as a result, a lot of Palestinians are limping.
Casting aside the yuks, not all Israeli soldiers are marksmen. Many Palestinian stone throwers have died after being shot in the torso or even head by troops who insisted they had been aiming for the knees. The military has done little, whether in the realm of punishment or training. And don’t get me started on all the loopy settlers who attack Palestinian farmers or try to burn entire villages either following attacks on Israelis or for no particular reason at all.
It’s kind of become the local “oops” moment. The Palestinians are natural born killers, many around here say. Our people? They make mistakes – mistakes that could be avoided, of course, if the Palestinians would just stop hating us. Remember, Rasputin had a beard; Gabby Hayes had whiskers!
And from the army, this unbearable lightness seems to filter sideways into society. Witness this week’s testimony before the Knesset’s Special Committee on the Rights of the Child by one Rafi Kedoshim.
Committee chairwoman Keti Shitrit had convened the committee to look into newly released data showing a rise in youth violence following a lengthy decline. The session also came amidst a loud national outcry over the Independence Eve stabbing death of Pizza Hut employee Yemanu Zelka by a pack of teenage thugs.
They “didn’t mean to kill him, just stab him,” Kedoshim blithely told the committee.
Who is Kedoshim and how does he know?
He did hard time for kidnapping, extortion and other acts of violence. He belonged to a reputed crime family that once reportedly sank its claws into various branches of the Herzliya municipality from its dark underside.
But Kedoshim says he has changed his ways, and today he sits on the Herzliya city council – in the bright sunshine – on behalf of the local Likud branch. It is said that he is one of the Likud’s top recruiters for party membership, as well as a key player in securing jobs for the rank and file, and choice assignments for up-and-coming party figures. How he does this is anybody’s guess.
What was he doing at a committee meeting on youth violence? He reportedly was invited by Shitrit, a Likud Knesset member known more for her cheerleading on behalf of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than for any particular legislative acumen.
Perhaps Shitrit needs a favor from Kedoshim going into primary season. Perhaps she thinks Kedoshim knows his way around a knife and the people who flash them.
WHO KNOWS? WHO KNOWS ANYTHING these days? If one thing is certain, it’s that a fish tends to stink from the head.
We can point to all the nooses we want. To all the settlers and soldiers getting off light while Palestinians are shot to death or faced with a death sentence. To all the “good” Israeli youngsters with knives, and to a particular ex-con who’s now the focus of pilgrimages by hungry politicians.
Point away indeed. But when the rot reaches the tail, we must understand that the stench is us and what we’ve allowed this country to become. We cannot let this go on. We must gather our senses and grab our compatriots so that by the time elections come around, we can end this nightmare once a for all. Or at least make a start.