Israel is returning to the pre-state era of lawless chaos - analysis
At the heart of the story is a struggle for law and order. Either the country would be given over to the law of the gun, or to a state.
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What is happening today in Israel? An article on Ynet about local municipal elections says that people are afraid to run for office. Blackmail has been used against candidates. Gangs and families strive for power. “About a week ago it was revealed on Ynet that at least 25 Arab elected officials are defined by police as threatened and receive different levels of security,” the article noted in early September.
“Tensions in our locality are very high,” said one candidate. “Sometimes people are threatened because they write who they will vote for. Unfortunately, freedom of expression has become dangerous and may cause real harm.”
THIS ROSH HASHANA, Israel is faced with a complex crossroads.
There have been calls to use Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to deal with the crime wave. Considering the level of violence, it’s clear why. For instance, a shooting attack in Kfar Kanna, not far from the community that was once called Sajera, led to people feeling they have no security.
In some communities, people cannot open a business before “protection” is paid to people who show up and claim to be “guarding” their business. Even though laws exist to prosecute this, it appears many act with impunity, and many entrepreneurs are in fear.
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These incidents across the Galilee and the Negev illustrate that the country is facing similar struggles as activists like Ben-Gurion saw in the era from 1908 to 1948. There is increasing lawlessness across the landscape: Farmers are attacked or forced to pay protection money, and gangs threaten villagers.
Today, there are also questions about who will provide security, and there are calls to use the same security methods employed to defeat terrorism in the West Bank in order to deal with the rising violence in places like the Galilee.
This would be an incredible reversal of the normal discussion about “sovereignty” in the West Bank. It used to be that there were concerns about Israel applying law and order in the West Bank. Today it’s unclear whether the sovereignty that Ben-Gurion and his friends wanted in Sajera continues to exist in areas around Sajera (now called Ilaniya).
Today, in all areas of the Galilee, one can find stories of murders – from Kfar Qara to Abu Snan to a car wash in Yafia near Nazareth or Taibe east of Tel Aviv.
https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/crime-in-israel/article-758048(nice historical story too)
