palestine

After the knives are put away

By / December 1, 2020

The uniforms and pistols make them look like police, but they aren’t cops. They’re members of the Tel Aviv municipal public order patrol – set up by the city this past year to deal with public disturbances, noise ordinance violations, and petty quality of life issues. After a terror attack in the city earlier this month and as the daily attacks known as the “Knife Intifada” continue across the country, the patrol members are now receiving firearms, to be force multipliers …

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Knife bait at the park – watching my daughter’s blind spot

By / December 1, 2020

Ask yourself: Could you fend off a crazed attacker armed with only a stick of sidewalk chalk? Could you subdue a man with a knife, hold him until the police arrive, and give a man-on-the-street interview that will go viral? Most crucially, could you spend an hour and a half at the park with a group of toddlers, without checking your cell phone even once? All these questions went through my mind on Tuesday morning, when it was my turn for …

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Deadly force in deadly times

By / December 1, 2020

The video that went viral in Israel on Monday left little room for debate. Three Special Patrol Unit police officers are standing outside Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, when one of them asks a young man for his ID and all hell breaks loose. The man, later named as Muhammad Ali, 19, from Shuafat, takes a knife and stabs the neck of one of the police officers and then jumps and stabs a second one, before he is taken down in a …

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The spy who came in from the cold – to lead the police

By / December 1, 2020

Roni Alsheich, deputy head of the Shin Bet (Israel security agency) was introduced – somewhat – to the Israeli public last Friday as all but a shoo-in for the new chief of police, finally, mercifully bringing the hunt for a new chief to an end. Alsheich (whose name can now be printed, saving us the silly requirement of calling him simply “R”) brings impressive credentials – a former company and deputy brigade commander in the Paratroops – he has spent over …

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They came to watch the bridge explode

By / December 1, 2020

Judging by the pre-game hype in the national press, something akin to the moon landing or the planting of the US flag on Iwo Jima took place in Tel Aviv on Friday morning, as hundreds gathered in the center of town to see the iconic Ma’ariv Bridge blown up and brought to Earth.   The situation on the ground at judgment hour didn’t live up to the hype, but it was a carnival of sorts nonetheless.   Ori Benaim was sober …

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Avera Mengistu – a flawed focus on racism

By / December 1, 2020

For the past 10 months the family of Avera Mengistu has lived with trauma and uncertainty.  Their son has been missing in Gaza, his whereabouts and health unknown, with no sign of life. The fact that he crossed into the Strip willingly, and has a history of mental distress is probably of no consolation. They have also, it turns out, not been treated with the level of urgency and sympathy one would expect for the family of an Israeli citizen held …

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Not our boys

By / December 1, 2020

It’s a common refrain any time there’s a mass shooting in the US, which are almost always carried out by white men. The killer – if it’s a white man – must be mentally deranged, possibly even under the influence of harmful medication, something, anything that could explain cold-blooded cruelty on that level. This refrain has been repeated this week, ever since Dylann Roof walked into an African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina and shot dead 9 congregants last Wednesday night. …

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Not ‘Israel’s Baltimore’, but real cause for concern

By / December 1, 2020

Suddenly, a whole lot of people in Israel are talking about Baltimore. The city has become a buzzword in Israel for riots and protests against police brutality and racism. Coinciding with the publication of a video of an Ethiopian-Israeli soldier being beaten by police, the images of riot cops clashing with protesters and row houses in flames became a symbol to many of what could happen in Israel if the situation spun out of control, if years of frustration in the …

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Casting nets and catching little fish

By / December 1, 2020

Forget about the Iranian threat, the rising cost of living or the new attack tunnels being built by Hamas on the Gaza border. The Israel Police are tackling head-on a real menace to our peace and security – high-school kids smoking weed. At least that was the impression I got late last month, when police announced yet another undercover drug operation that netted dozens of arrests and who knows how many criminal cases. The story was set in Tel Aviv, where …

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Public Security – Always the bridesmaid of ministries

By / December 1, 2020

As you probably noticed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Right survived Election Day intact, emerging victorious despite an attack by Arab hordes (i.e. “voters”) descending on polling stations by the busload. By Monday evening President Reuven Rivlin had received endorsements from a total of 67 MKs, recommending that Netanyahu be tasked with forming the next coalition. As anyone familiar with Israeli politics knows, now is when the real fun begins, when the ruling party starts doling out the ministerial portfolios …

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