Justice Minister (The Movement), Public Security Minister (Yisrael Beitenu) and Finance Minister (Yesh Atid) Yair Lapid have announced their support for classifying so-called price tag incidents as “acts of terror”. Such a move would compel a harsher police response as well as carrying stiffer punishments for persons convicted of perpetrating a price tag attack.
The three ministers plan to bring the matter to the Security Cabinet for approval.
Last week, YWN-ISRAEL quoted a Galei Tzahal report which stated there were 180 price tag attacks in the past five months.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
4 Responses
Especially because it pertains to orthodox jews
Treating non-lethal vandalism as “terrorism”, especially when politically motivated, is very ominous for a civil libertarian perspective. On the other hand, Israel routinely labels anti-government political speech as “incitement” (in the United States it’s call “sedition” and is a constitutional right). And compared to its neighbors, such as Syria and Iran, the Israeli government is fairly respectful of civil rights and the rule of law.
Make rock-throwing into a criminal action and jail the aggressors to save lives.
Zionflag:
“rock throwing” is a crime (in English it is called assault and bettery)
Blowing up a pizza place is also a crime. It should be a more serious offense than throwing a rock at someone.
Criticizing the government (e.g. opposing withdrawal of Jewish settlements in Judea and Sammaria, opposing conscription) can be a crime under Israeli law, if some person hears you criticize the government, and tosses a rock or smashes a window or writes illegal graffiti.
The issue is whether smashing someones car since you don’t approve of the government should be treated the same as blowing up a bus and killing the people?