Violence, and more violence

1) As the details of the killing of Yemanu Binyamin Zelka in Petah Tikva become clearer, we are more and more shocked and horrified, not just by the act, itself, but by the decisions of the courts. Zelka’s family say the killing was not only intentional, but bears the hallmarks of organized crime. They are, by all accounts, not wrong.

The teens involved in the killing were seen to be planning it and waiting for Zelka to finish his shift and walk out of the pizza parlor where he worked. At least one of them brought a knife and stabbed Zelka repeatedly. At least one parent hid their son for several days. When arrested, they refused to talk, suggesting they had either agreed on this tactic beforehand, or that they knew, from television or their families, about the code of honor among criminals.

Sixteen teens have been indicted. One will be charged with negligent murder – not manslaughter – and the others for participating, obstructing justice, etc. The parents who abetted the murders will not be charged. The reason for the lesser charges: Lack of evidence. This is despite the fact that the entire murder was recorded on camera, that there was a witness who told the police, verbatim, what was said and done, that one of the teens started to talk.

What more evidence did they need?

2) On May 11, a man open fire inside a home in Ramle, killing the mother of his four children and wounding his sister before continuing out to the street and shooting at women in passing cars. The incident was described, variously, as femicide, domestic violence and the work of a mentally ill man. About the victim, 28-year-old Ranin Al-Abid, we are told nothing, other than the number of children she bore and cared for, although we are told the children, including a young infant, were sleeping in their beds when the shooting occurred.

Ranin’s horrific story will drop out of the news cycle quickly. Femicide: This is already an old tale. Already, eight women have been killed this year. The current one only breaks the pattern in that the shooting rampage continued, outdoors, until the shooter was, himself, shot.

When we say the man suffers from mental illness, it colors our perception of the crime. Mental illness: Well, what can you do? It’s sad, but we don’t have the means to prevent that.

Except that these murders were both preventable. Even at a time when the justice system is being dismantled by our leadership and the mental health system is stretched well past its breaking point; when the educational system is ragged from the disruption of war, lack of teachers, overcrowded classrooms and competition from screens, including violence on those screens, the signs were there and calling out for help. We were just looking the other way. We need to shine a spotlight on the incidents and figure out how to prevent the next one and the one after that.

In an ideal world, those teens will serve their time and come out reformed. In an ideal world, the shooting in Ramle would not be dismissed as the work of a mentally ill man, but investigated as part of a larger pattern. I am keenly aware that prevention is more difficult than punishing the perpetrators after the fact, that sociologists, educators and social psychologists have tried and failed to curb the violence the pervades our society.

Even so, we might ask, who hasn’t really tried? First of all, the police. Any attempts they have made to prevent crime in recent years have been half-hearted, at best. And when our Minister of Internal Security hands out guns left and right, should we be surprised? It is true that the Ramle shooter was finally shot by someone else carrying a gun, but it is just as true that when you flood the place with weapons, some will make their way to criminals. Some will be involved in shooting innocent women.

3) In April, near Nablus, Jewish extremists set fire to a home and cars, injuring 8 Palestinians, including a baby. No one was arrested. Major General Avi Bluth called the phenomenon, which has killed and injured hundreds and forced more out of their homes, terrorism. He did so just ahead of a move in the EU to sanction extremist settlers. Our leadership, which has consistently ignored the problem, slammed the EU, rather than those committing the crimes. We can’t even look away: The signs are there, right in front of our eyes, night after night on the news. These people are not only given guns, but a license to kill indiscriminately. We can’t say we didn’t know.

We might not be able to prevent teens from forming gangs, and we might not prevent mental illness. We have all but stopped preventing the establishment of new, ever more extreme settlements. But we can take weapons out of the public sphere. We can ensure the Arab sector has equal access to mental health care – in Arabic – and work to remove stigmas around seeing a therapist or taking medication for mental health problems. We might not be able to fix everything that is wrong with a society that breeds murderous teen gangs, but we can work within the educational system to ensure that teens do not feel abandoned, that screens are used responsibly, that social skills are developed and racism is excluded. We might not solve the problem of settler violence, short of an enforced withdrawal from all of the West Bank. But the actions of moderate settlers who are trying to counter the violence might be a place to start. Actually treating them as terrorists and regularly rounding up all young men between the ages of 15 and 45 in nearby settlements might be another.

Yemanu Binyamin Zelka deserved better. Ranin Al-Abid deserved better. The Palestinians living in the shadow of Israeli terror deserved better. But when we talk about justice for them, what we mean is that we want justice for ourselves. Justice for Zelka would include punishment for his killing, but it would also include taking multiple steps to prevent crime among teens. Justice for Ranin would include incarcerating her killer, mentally ill or not, for the rest of his life. But would also include rounding up weapons (I won’t make the distinction here between “legal” and “illegal”) and working to reduce the violence that plagues parts of our cities, whether by better enforcement, better punishment or better welfare service provision (or all of the above). Justice for the Palestinians whose houses were burned might include arrests and trials for those responsible. But it might also include collective national shame at the legitimization and normalization of those attacks and yes, arriving at a peaceful solution with our neighbors in the Palestinian Authority.

Unfortunately, our Knesset is starting its summer session in a race to completely eviscerate the last remaining bulwark of our justice system – the office of the Attorney General. Our justice minister has already been held in contempt for refusing to convene the judicial selection panel, our internal security minister has been accused, by the attorney general, of being a danger to our internal security and the new head of the Mossad, a political appointee, is being accused by his predecessor, of lack of internal ethical boundaries.

So much for hoping for justice, at least in the short term. When we Israelis go to vote in six months, let’s remember that the justice we seek is inseparable from true democracy and equality – for all of us, including Yemanu, Ranin and the unnamed Palestinians who are our neighbors. It is no less than what we deserve.