Israel needs a new police force

This situation is sadly just another illustration of the lawlessness and anarchy that seems to be taking hold of Israel’s streets.

By JPOST EDITORIAL
Police clash with anti-Netanyahu protesters outside the prime ministerial residence in Jerusalem, December 26, 2020 (photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Police clash with anti-Netanyahu protesters outside the prime ministerial residence in Jerusalem, December 26, 2020
(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Jerusalem has been rocked in recent days by violent protests with settler youth – seemingly from the West Bank hilltops – clashing with police forces across the city.
The protests are in response to the death of Ahuvia Sandak, a hilltop youth who was killed after the vehicle he was riding in flipped over during a police chase in the Mateh Binyamin Regional Council last week.
Police say the passengers in the car, a mix of minors and young grown-ups, were throwing rocks at moving Palestinian vehicles and even hit and harmed one Palestinian. They ordered the car to pull over, but it did not, and police followed in pursuit.
At one point, the car Sandak was in flipped over. According to the police, during the chase the activists’ car swerved wildly between lanes and the police wove along with it.
Supporters of Sandak claim that the police car rammed his vehicle and caused the accident. The incident is currently under investigation by the Justice Ministry.
What really happened will hopefully be determined in the investigation, but what is clear is that Sandak’s friends and supporters are out of control. For a week now they have clashed almost daily with police throughout Jerusalem. The protesters have been blocking streets, burning trash cans and interrupting the light rail.
Jerusalem is not the only flash point. In Hashmonaim, suspects tried setting fire to a police station, and in another town, police squad cars were vandalized. Police have been injured by rocks thrown at them, and dozens of protesters, including minors, have been arrested.
This situation is sadly just another illustration of the lawlessness and anarchy that seems to be taking hold of Israel’s streets. One day it is the anti-Netanyahu protests outside the Prime Minister’s Residence on Balfour Street in Jerusalem and the next day it is a protest by ultra-Orthodox Jews against the arrest of a draft dodger or the hilltop youth angry about Sandak’s death.
Alongside all of this is the horrific murder rate in the Arab sector – more than 100 homicides this year – as well as the continued proliferation of illegal arms throughout Arab, Bedouin and Druze towns. The latest murder took place on Monday, when gunmen brazenly opened fire on a car driving with a police escort along Highway 6.
Something has got to change in Israel when it comes to law enforcement. The fact that so many people violently take to the streets every night while breaking the law shows that they are not deterred by the police and not afraid of the justice system. Whether these are the protesters at Balfour or the people angry about Sandak’s death, they all have in common their disdain and disregard for the police.
This is not surprising. The police have been eviscerated in recent years, denied the budgets that are needed to grow the force so it can meet the increasing challenges across the country – including fighting terrorism, combating crime and enforcing traffic laws.
Instead, the government consciously starved the police, illustrated the best by refusing to appoint a new commissioner and leaving the force with a temporary commander. That process is finally moving along with the recent appointment of Border Police chief Kobi Shabtai to serve as the next police chief. The appointment still requires the government’s approval, which would require Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Alternate Prime Minister Benny Gantz working together to bring it for a vote.
The appointment of Shabtai moved along only because the High Court of Justice ordered the government to do so. Otherwise, Netanyahu and Public Security Minister Amir Ohana would have been fine keeping the police with a temporary commander.
This needs to come to an end. Israel, with all its challenges, requires a full-time police force that can meet the needs of a growing country with complicated and diverse challenges.
This requires budgets, manpower and the necessary resources. But it also requires a government that wants a police force that can enforce the law and uphold justice in this country. For now, that is not what exists in Israel.