They are also war victims

Two days after International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, another two women were killed near Ramle, in the center of the country. They were killed with a car bomb that exploded into flames as the mother and daughter in the car drove down a busy road.

The two were thought to have connections to warring crime families in the area. This, despite the fact that identification would take time, due to the condition of the bodies. It was not the women, themselves, but the nature of the crime that alerted the police to the likely background. Apparently, such devices are starting to replace the killers-for-hire who previously murdered women in the area. They are cheaper and harder to trace.

These women, whoever they are, as well as the four, including three children, killed in Ramle in September in a similar explosion, are war victims. They are victims of a vicious war going on in the center of our country – one that kills women, teens and even children, rather than the actual criminals. It chooses easy targets, killing people whose only crime may be their family name. The criminal organizations that engage in this war are as ruthless as any army, as lacking in sentiment for their victims.

They are victims of a war they did not start, did not choose, in which they did not elect to take part. They were targeted because they were innocent, because they were pawns to be eliminated.

They are war victims because, as Israel’s army reservists and resources moved south and north over the past 14 months to fight across our borders, the incursion of organized crime and waves of encroaching local violence were left free to expand, unabated, in the center. Even Yoel Lavi, former Ramle mayor, criticized the police and legal system, pointing out that enforcement is not good enough, the punishment not heavy enough to prevent these crimes.

The criminal organizations that engage in this war are as ruthless as any army, as lacking in sentiment for their victims

Ramle is not new to violent crimes, especially between families. I can remember a wild-west sort of time when walking down the main street could have landed you in the middle of crossfire. Once upon a time, the solution was to move one of the feuding families to a different locale. But this time is different.

This time, the cities in the center of the country need to rid themselves of all organized crime, no matter to which last name it’s attached. Like Bibi thinking he could ignore the hatreds brewing on either side of our borders and hope they would balance one another out, the authorities are finding this “normalization” of the factionalized crime situation in places like Ramle is blowing up in their faces. They need to overcome their general practice of looking the other way and actively allocate planning, resources and manpower to eliminating the crime organizations.

I write authorities, and not police. Discrimination, lack of employment opportunities, easy money and yes, family connections, all work to bring new recruits to these organizations. Easy access to weapons, including car bombs, is the grease that keeps them going. That is, we need to break the chains holding them together at every possible link. And the effort must be coordinated. If the police arrest criminals but the courts do not properly prosecute them; if young men are drawn into crime because they feel the need to protect their own families while those in charge have no means to shield those in danger, then we cannot accomplish this goal.

This is not an issue of a particular sector. Ramle is a vibrant mixed city that has enjoyed relatively tolerant relations for many years. The women killed are citizens of this country. They have the same right as you or me to life and liberty. Hopefully you can agree with me they did not deserve to die.

But how will you prevent the next car bomb from exploding, the next woman on their radar from getting shot full of holes? Every day we do not act in this country to dismantle the crime organizations, to reduce the number of weapons on the street – under cars — is putting those women in danger. Our government may be useless, especially our Minister of Interior Insecurity, but moderate local politicians like Lavi might be able to influence local systems. It’s time to stop thinking of this as “their” problem and realize it’s one that affects us all. Because once we do that, we should all demand an end to the war going on right in the center of the country.