Another terrible wave of terrorist attacks is sweeping Israel.
In the face of fear and terrorism and the desire to stop the terrorists, it is important to be alert - but it is easy to make mistakes.
In all this sadness, I want to write here about the fate of a man without a name.
Last Monday, my heart was pounding when I heard about an attempted attack at the Ashkelon junction.
The media reported on a terrorist who snatched a weapon from a female soldier and was quickly killed by a senior officer.
Shortly afterwards, it was discovered that the victim was a mentally ill Jew who had fled the hostel. Despite the short time that had passed, and perhaps also because the name of the victim was not revealed at the family's request, the case was forgotten.
We moved on.
I am convinced that if it had not been for the mentally ill, the public response would have been more significant.
The worst thing is that we will not learn anything from this tragedy.
Also in the next incident between a mentally ill person and a security guard, they will first be shot.
The family will be left with the loss.
The policeman or soldier will remain with the trauma all their lives.
Diligent media man Oren Hellman ("Equal Opportunity") posted on his Facebook page a partial list of people with disabilities killed in encounters with security forces in recent years.
In addition to the last killed, he counted Mustafa Yunis, Yehuda Biadga, Shirel Hevura, Munir Anabtawi and another anonymous soul contender, who suffocated a year ago.
The family of Yehuda Biadga, Photo: Yossi Zeliger
The best known is Iyad al-Khalak, a young man on the autistic continuum.
Its tragic killing in East Jerusalem led the Presidential House to set up a pioneering inter-ministerial committee to improve law enforcement's dealings with people with disabilities. When in contact with people with disabilities in any mobile (due diligence: I took part in the initial stage of the committee).
Two months ago, the Internal Security Committee convened to review the implementation of the inter-ministerial committee's conclusions, and it was revealed that only 35 police officers, 1,000 from the Israel Police, had been trained to identify people with disabilities.
The mutual guarantee, of which we are so well known, stops at the mentally handicapped.
If people with disabilities are considered half human, I am sad to say that the mentally handicapped within them are considered a quarter.
Beyond the difficulties of the ordinary days, in the bloody days that Israel goes through, the mentally handicapped are in double danger of death.
The absurdity is that for them, the danger to the security forces is far greater than the danger of terrorism.
According to a study we published in the Ruderman Family Foundation, about one-third to one-half of the civilians killed by U.S. police officers are people with disabilities, mostly mentally handicapped.
The problem is that it is the duty of the state to provide every police officer and every security person with sufficient tools to deal with the mentally ill, otherwise the results of the cases will be repeated and there will be no improvement.
The solution is known: the conclusions of the inter-ministerial committee must be awakened and implemented - in the police first, and in the security bodies later.
Before the next killed.
The author is the CEO of the Ruderman Foundation, which works to integrate people with disabilities, including the mentally handicapped, into society.
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