As 2016 begins, the situation in Israel looks much the same as it did during a difficult 2015. The first weekend of the year saw a terror attack at a pub on Dizengoff Street in the heart of Tel Aviv, which left two people dead. The alleged perpetrator, Nashat Milhem, an Israeli Arab who previously served five years in prison for attacking an Israeli soldier in 2007, is also suspected of subsequently murdering a taxi driver in the city’s north end.
As Israeli security forces searched for Milhem over the weekend, Tel Aviv residents were left on edge, debating even whether to send their children to school while a terrorist remained on the loose, armed, reportedly, with a submachine gun and plenty of ammunition. The spectre of a murderer on the run only added to the tension Israelis have felt for three long months during a spree of terror attacks some are calling a new intifadah. Whatever you want to call it, the current spate of terrorism, including knife attacks and car rammings, often committed by Israeli Arabs and celebrated by Palestinian leaders, shows no signs of abating.
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Meanwhile, the early days of January also brought a stark reminder of one of 2015’s most painful moments in Israel. On Sunday, Israeli prosecutors indicted Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, for a firebomb attack last July that killed three members of a Palestinian family in the West Bank village of Duma. A fourth member of the family, a five-year-old child, is still in hospital recovering, while an unnamed Israeli minor has been charged with accessory to murder for assisting Ben-Uliel.
The Duma terror incident, along with video footage from late December that showed Israeli wedding-goers celebrating the attack, left most Israelis horrified, much in the same way as the kidnapping and murder of 16-year-old Palestinian Mohammed Abu Khdeir by Jewish extremists in July 2014 did. Those incidents, plus a series of lower-grade attacks by Israeli youths, prove that the Jewish state has a terror problem of its own that needs to be addressed.
Though the numbers of young people associated with these cells remains small – by most accounts, there are perhaps only a few dozen willing and able to plan and carry out attacks – the potential damage they might cause, in terms of human lives and Israel’s image worldwide, is great. The indicting of Ben-Uliel, and a simultaneous series of arrests, are important steps in stopping these dangerous Jewish extremists.
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Even so, it is hard to see at this early point how this year might end up being different from the one just completed. The dual hope of peace and security seems like a distant dream, the gulf between Israel and the Palestinians appears unbridgeable, and the tenor of the Israel dialogue – in the Diaspora, too – shows increasing signs of anger and ferocity.
Of all those, the last appears to be the most easily solvable, since it is a purely internal problem. At our most vulnerable moments, we ought to be able to talk – and listen – to each other with respect. That’s something we all might resolve to work on this year. It could make a big difference.