On October 25, 2022, at the height of the election campaign, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted on his Telegram page a summary of a meeting with Brigadier General (res.) Gal Hirsch, in which the latter presented him with a comprehensive plan, a kind of "Defensive Shield 2", to strengthen the internal security of the country.
The assassination of Adir Avgi by the people of Jarushi, the chase and the arrests: Central Command Center with all the details// Photo: Moshe Ben Simhon
In the announcement, Netanyahu noted that Hirsch's proposal fits in with other plans submitted to him. "Together with Gal, we will implement the plan if Likud voters go out to vote and we win the elections," he promised.
The elections ended ten months ago, and unsurprisingly, nothing happened. No plan was pulled out of the drawer, not even after Ben-Gvir – the election promise to strengthen governance and personal security – became minister of national security.
Ben-Gvir and Netanyahu. The Prime Minister Should Demand Answers, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
Promises separately, reality separately – the streets of Israel are bleeding and citizens are fed up. The impression created is that policymakers live in a world of their own where, instead of implementing election promises, they talk a lot, tweet a lot, and spread spin as a way to cover up their failure.
This is the only way to explain the feeling that the prime minister and his ministers have been watching almost indifferently what has been happening here in recent months. After such a sharp rise in the number of murders in Arab and Jewish society and criminal lawlessness reaching new heights, the prime minister should have knocked on the table, summoned the national security minister for an urgent conversation and demanded answers from him and the police commissioner. After all, Ben-Gvir's failure is Netanyahu's failure. And where have government ministers gone? They're on Twitter every day, all day.
The scene of the assassination in Ashkelon, photo: according to section 27A of the Copyright Law
The scene of the murder at the Golden Mall Rishon LeZion, photo: Yossi Zeliger
The scene of the murder in Haifa, photo: Michelle Dot Com
The cornerstone are police stations. Instead of strengthening them, attention over the past two and a half years has been given to the Border Police to turn it into a National Guard. Those affected are the Blue Police officers. As a result, there has been an acute impact on the quantity and quality of manpower at the stations, in the work environment, in means and resources. This significantly damaged the station's positioning and caused a feeling among station commanders that "we have become marginal youth." The police already admit that the motivation to serve at the stations and command them has been severely damaged.
The police need quiet
But this is not the only problem that makes it difficult for the police to deal with rising crime. In recent years, police deterrence has also been undermined, to the point where it seems regrettably irrelevant to criminal organizations and crime families. Some 200 unsolved murder cases are currently in the interrogation rooms. Over the past few months, the piles have continued to pile up, bag after bag. And when criminals see that the police can't solve the murders and get their hands on the murderers, they "celebrate."
From right: Katy Perry, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Kobi Shabtai. Motivation dropped, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
And the police also need quiet. In January, the police commissioner ends his term, and the minister of national security delays announcing his new candidate. This has led to the fact that there is no law and no judgment. The police command staff is divided, and there is no one to pull the cart out of the mud. Instead of strengthening the police stations and opening new ones in the Arab sector as well, the minister and the police commissioner are engaged in stupid quarrels over credits and spreading spins that have nothing to do with reality, except for a momentary media achievement.
In the situation that has arisen, it is imperative to demand that the prime minister not close his eyes and intervene. He must take the steering wheel into his own hands and pull the police cart out of the mud without repeatedly sticking sticks in its wheels – and well one hour earlier.
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