Fighting the violence

A man sitting on a bench with his family at the beach was murdered by a group of thugs. An innocent passerby, a yeshiva student, was shot during a brawl between criminals. Teenagers were slaughtered at a Tel Aviv club by a murderer who wounded and killed indiscriminately and mercilessly. In Ramat Gan, a garbage dumpster containing a dismembered body was torched. Another body was discovered at the Alexander River. Indeed, the string of recent events may undermine the sense of personal safety among many of us.

In the face of this reality, and against the backdrop of the public mood, some people prompt us to lose faith and resign ourselves to the notion that “nothing could be done”; that the time has come to give up and declare the “rule of violence” instead of the rule of law and public order.

Yet the public must know this is not the case. These phenomena can and must be fought. Those who question the determination of law enforcement agencies – the police, State Prosecutor’s Office, and courts – are wrong. The issue of personal safety is very much on our agenda. This has always been the case. The issue that currently preoccupies the public is our day-to-day concern. This is the police officer’s job and attorney’s mission.

We are not alone in this campaign. The State Prosecutor’s job is to express the general public’s position at court. The public is demanding, rightfully so, that the law enforcement establishment protect its right for security and peace. The life, dignity, and wellbeing of individuals are not vague terms. These are tangible, real, human, and vulnerable terms. Protecting them is at the heart of the State Prosecutor’s Office’s work and is the essence of its existence. State attorneys’ sense of mission is premised on this.

Declarations of intent insufficient

The law enforcement establishment must act decisively when we see moral and cultural cracks taking root within society and being manifested through criminal behavior and the violent and brutal conduct of few. When the balance shifts from protecting the general public to focusing on the rights of criminals, the State Prosecutor’s Office must strive to regain the balance in favor of the victims and those who have the right not to become the next victims.

This task is not an easy one in the framework of the reality we are all familiar with in Israel. Declarations of intent are insufficient. Decisive day-to-day action by the court system is also inadequate. All of us must recognize the significance of this campaign and provide law enforcement authorities with effective means to carry out their job.

Such material and legal means – some of which are already waiting on the Knesset’s table - will convey the deterring message to those who threaten our wellbeing and guarantee a reinforced sense of security for all of us.

Yet despite everything, we must not allow a random sequence of events to distort the reality of our lives. We are not one of those countries where people are scared to walk the streets. Israel is a law-abiding state, and will remain that way.