What could be worse?

What could be worse than two masked men, breaking and entering into a house in the silent darkness of the early morning hours, alarming a big dog who barks to warn her household?

A woman wakes and grabs her phone, enters the lounge half asleep, to see strangers with flashlights. One grabs her, threatens her with a knife, and orders her to keep silent and to calm the still distressed dog. For almost an hour, the men search the house, ordering the woman to hand over the valuables. She tells them she is a simple woman; she does not own things of value.

One takes her outside, but when it is clear she is seriously suffering from the cold, he carries her back in, and lies her down. At this point he takes a good look at her, and tells her she is sexy. She believes she is about to be raped. Then her daughter will be raped. And then they will be killed. But her gold wedding ring saves her. The thieves are desperate for money, and on spying it, the one sizing her up orders her to give it to him. She gathers courage from deep inside, and tells them to swear on Allah that if she hands it to them, they will leave. They swear, take it, leave, and she locks the door behind them.

Only after she has called her husband who is abroad, the police, and the head of the kibbutz guard, she collapses in tears, the shock and terrifying nature of what has just occurred suddenly and fully hitting her.

At least, no one has been harmed. Not her, not her daughter. But for the kibbutz, who awake to the horrifying news of what has happened to their neighbour, a peace activist, one of the most gentle and loving human beings you could ever come across, it will take some time to process and digest the news. The children are scared and traumatised. ‘It could have been us,’ is said over and over again. And the feeling everywhere is who would want to do such a thing to such a wonderful, inspiring woman?

What could be worse?

The Israel Security Agency are of course alerted. Journalists come to report the story. Her house is full of visitors. Friends, family, police. This is seen as an act of terror, and within a day, one of the thieves is caught. It surely will not be long until the other is too.

This is one event, in a kibbutz, where there was a break-in and the threat of violence to a Jew. Yet, since the beginning of only this year, thirty-five Arabs, that’s thirty-five, have been slaughtered by criminals in the Arab communities. Not just a house broken into. Not only threatened by a knife. But shot. Shot dead! Each time someone dies, family, friends and the whole community are mortified, horrified, traumatised. And yet certainly the Israel Security Agency does not see this as an act of terror. No criminal gets arrested within twenty-four hours, if at all!

What is going on here? Are we really allowing for this disgusting picture of our nation to be built, where we prove over and over again that the Jews are more important than the Arabs, more worthy of help and support, more valuable to our society? Are we really allowing this reputation to be built, where Arabs are treated as second class citizens and the murder of a few of them (two hundred and fifty-two in 2025 alone) is not considered significant enough to do something about it?

Thank God for the demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday night, where around 100,000 Jews and Arabs came together to call for a stop to violence. Jews are finally waking up and saying this is NOT acceptable. Enough!

For what could be worse than the threat of violence in a kibbutz this week?

A country that doesn’t value the lives of all its citizens. That’s what.