Map of the attack in Ra'anana/Image processing, Google Maps
The two terrorists from Hebron, prisoners who worked without a work permit in the city of Ra'anana, carried out a bloody attack today and could become a crossroads. Black sign. Netanyahu's pilot is supposed to bring thousands of workers to the construction sites, and the greatest fear is of similar attacks from those who work and know the community in which he works.
The catch is clear: on the one hand, on the Palestinian side there are many good people who just want to make a living. On the other hand, a minority of extremists is enough to bring about an arena disaster.
The opposition to the return of workers from the territories will not begin this time with the government, because the Shin Bet is pressing, together with security officials, to release the pressure valve in Judea and Samaria due to the fear of a third intifada. It will start with the neighbors, from those who will feel a threat to the house, a feeling that did not exist before the seventh of October.
Contractors are known to have identified on television screens the terrorists from October 7th with the green ribbon and weapons as workers who worked for us at sites in Netivot, Be'er Sheva and Ashkelon.
Are we in a similar movie with the workers in the territories?
The atmosphere there is not simple. The fanfare is tremendous. We all remember the Palestinian worker from East Jerusalem who filmed himself pouring water on an electric locker in an apartment in Rosh HaAyin and was not even punished, until the public noise took its course and the police changed a floppy disk.
We won't talk at all about the quality of the work and the fear of damage to our homes under construction. And what about the renovation contractors who, for some reason, are not entitled to employ foreign workers? Would anyone even be willing to bring a handyman into the house with workers from the territories? Will the night be a night of rest, when at the nearby construction site you heard Arabic during the day by workers who came to work from the territories for a day?
And why don't they give gas to the foreign workers? They had already heard about the huge salaries in Israel and understood that every construction site is protected against missiles. The demand is great, the problem is that many don't really fit in skills.
"Murderous Palestinian terrorism has no age"
We are facing a crossroads, and an attack like today in Ra'anana illustrates the magnitude of the problem. Ordinary citizens can resort to violence and prevent workers from entering their neighborhood. Will this lead to a greater escalation? Will the local elections leave the mayors silent or will they physically prevent the arrival of the workers, as they already did with a lower profile with the Israeli Arab workers in the first weeks of the war?
Israel is in confusion and the issue of workers is vital and critical if we want the housing market not to turn into black diamonds, that every apartment is worth gold because of scarcity.
What's the solution? The truth is that there is no definitive answer. In any case, it does not appear that the Palestinian workers, as Netanyahu promised in the pilot, will soon be here without street fighting and industrial quiet.
Minister of Construction and Housing Yitzhak Goldknopf announced after the attack: "Murderous Palestinian terrorism has no age, and this incident shows the danger of Palestinian workers entering Israel to work. It is my duty to take care of the real estate industry, but not at the expense of the lives of our citizens."
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