Between Gedera and Lod: What shocks you more, a murder or a rape? Depends on who the suspect is - voila! news

Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir arrives at the scene of the rape in Gadara (spokesperson of the Ministry of National Security)

Yesterday we woke up to a difficult and sad morning, in which the 33-year-old Leader Suisa from Lod was murdered, stabbed by a neighbor and found lifeless in the doorway of her house.

Another woman entered the sad and bloody statistics of murdered women;

Another woman met her unnecessary death and the authorities failed to save her.

But if anyone thought that Lider's murder would cause an earthquake in the media-political discourse, or that we would see the Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gabir visit the scene of the murder, they were wrong.

The murder of the Swiss leader took me back a few days, to the shocking and brutal rape that a resident of Gedera went through last Friday.

An unimaginable case, which scarred many and which left everyone who read or heard about it in shock.

How evil can one person be, to break into a house and rape a woman, in front of her small children?

The police did a good job, quickly apprehending the suspect in the act - an Arab resident of the Bedouin diaspora in the Negev, whose family immediately condemned the act and said that they "hope the culprit will pay the price for this shocking crime."

More in Walla!

• The murder in Lod: the suspect should have left the building months ago

• Not only the rape in the fence - the suspect is accused of recklessly killing two young men: "drove wildly"

• Only health: this way you will continue the routine of life without worrying about your health

The murder will not cause an earthquake.

Swiss leader (photo: courtesy of the family)

Apparently, these are two incidents of violence against women, in which one lost her life and the other lost her soul, when a shocking rape victim fell in the place that should be the safest for her.

Precisely because of this, it is difficult to turn a blind eye to the behavior of Minister Ben Gabir and the discourse in Israel and on social networks in relation to the two events.

After the rape in Gadara, Ben Gvir hurried to go to the city, take pictures with the local residents, and enjoy the support - which seems more like a campaign of flattery - of the journalists around him, some of whom were quick to frame the Minister of National Security as someone who does not intend to neglect violence against women.

However, in the incident of the murder in Lod, he disappeared.

Even the voices on the networks, which were shouting non-stop just a few days before, have died down.

And so the question arises, what is the difference between the two cases?

The difference, one must assume, lies in the identity of the suspect: in rape the suspect is Arab, while in murder - a Jew.

In any normal country, the identity of the suspect should not play a role or add weight to the seriousness of the act;

But, apparently, this is not the case in Israel, and especially not among politicians who have built their careers on a campaign of incitement against Arabs.

How did we get to a situation where there are people who are able to imagine that the identity of the suspect in the act is the criterion for its seriousness?

After all, rape is rape, which should not be taken lightly in any way, regardless of the identity of the victim or the rapist.

There is a serious problem here, which should not be put on the agenda.

Stuck in the campaign and counting pita.

Ben Gabir at the scene of the rape in Gadara (photo: documentation on social networks according to Section 27 A of the Copyright Law)

It was indeed heartwarming to see people shocked by what happened in the fence - but, let me estimate, and I hope I'm wrong, that they wouldn't have been shocked to the same extent if the victim hadn't pointed out the suspect's Arab accent.

Would the Minister of National Security have been in a hurry to go to the arena, had it not been for this "trump card"?

We will probably never know the answer, but Ben Gabir's history can indicate that the answer is no.

These are the facts on the ground - just yesterday a woman was murdered in Lod.

Minister Ben Gabir did not go to the arena accompanied by assistants and photographers;

did not tweet;

Didn't run to be interviewed by the media and cut out a coupon.

Maybe he was busy counting how many pitas the security prisoners get and taking videos for Tiktok with baking.

And if that's not enough, then the same Minister of National Security hastily ran to the media, and stated this week in an interview with Galach emphatically that the rape in Gedra was - "sharp and smooth", as he put it - on a nationalist background, even though no official in the police or the investigation claimed this. Coupon, so to the end. Ben Gvir tries to convey to the public in the last year that he has matured, moderated and deserves to serve as a minister in the Israeli government, but it seems that quite a few times he continues to behave as if he is still in an election campaign and is more busy raking in likes on social media than in restoring security to the streets.

We have reached a moral low.

Yoel Lehanghel (photo: screenshot, documentation on social networks according to Article 27 A of the Copyright Law)

But if you thought it started and ended with Ben Gavir, you are wrong.

Quite a few people over the past week have made the assumption of a "nationalist background", without any substantiation or proof that this is the motive behind the unimaginable act in the fence.

As if if a Jewish woman had been raped by a Jewish man, or if an Arab woman had been raped by an Arab, the case would have been less serious.

And speaking of "nationalist background" - last October we witnessed the shocking murder of 18-year-old Yoel Lehanghel, who was stabbed to death at a birthday party in Kiryat Shmona.

Did anyone imagine that Yoel was murdered because of his origin, due to the fact that he immigrated to Israel with his family about a year ago?

Try to think about it for a moment and see where we have come.

People are not shocked by the unnecessary murder of an 18-year-old boy or a 33-year-old woman at her doorstep, but they are shocked by the vile act of raping a woman, solely based on the identity of those involved.

There is an exploitation of a sensitive and distressed situation of a woman who fell victim to rape for the sake of raking in political capital and likes, and this is the moral low we have reached in Israel.

It's time to stop this madness that has taken over the discourse in the country.

Wake up!

• news

• opinions and interpretations

Tags

• murder

• rape

• a fence

• Lod

• Itamar Ben Gabir