Considering the Israeli public’s hesitation with regard to the acts of atrocious violence committed by “price-tag” perpetrators, it may be fitting to open an article dealing with this group of thugs with a few decisive statements: “Price-tag” crimes are a mark of disgrace on Israeli society. Beating a 67-year-old shepherd with sticks and a razor simply because he is Arab is a shameful act that contradicts all the basic values of Judaism.
So is throwing a firebomb at a car driving women and children, stoning a bus carrying worshippers to their homes, vandalizing a monastery, setting fire to fields, chopping down olive trees and running over and killing dozens of sheep. “Price-tag” perpetrators are thugs who are staining not only the image of the Israeli religious public, but also that of the state as a whole.
Moreover, “price-tag” acts endanger the security and the future of the State of Israel. Anyone who wants to light a fire in our flammable region is likely to succeed. In the Arab world, in which Islamic influence is growing, you don’t need to be an intelligence expert to expect that one psycho is enough to burn down a whole forest. In a period during which Israel needs all the political support it can get in its struggle against a nuclear Iran, “price-tag” acts and their resonance in the Western media tilt public opinion against Israel and severely damage its interests.
How can we deal with this terror?
Firstly, a zero-tolerance policy on the part of security forces. No sympathy. No compromising, no blinking. Rather, hunting to the point of elimination, as befits a group that constitutes an existential strategic threat. Security bodies are working according with priorities that are set for them by leaders. Therefore, in this case, reprogramming needs to take place at the level of the heads of the state — even if it’s politically uncomfortable for them.
Second, a genuine enlistment of the rabbis and leaders of the religious public to denounce the “price-taggers” and completely and unequivocally remove them from the camp. The weak condemnation of the right and the ambiguous statements made by the perpetrators' defenders suggest that they do not yet understand that the weeds raised in their gardens are likely to bring about their destruction. The moderate, secular majority, which doesn’t see the settlers as a monolithic entity — and which believes in the necessity of dialogue with the settlers, and not in boycotting them — this majority is anxiously awaiting a firm response from the rabbis.
And third, while we’re on the subject, the moderate majority needs to stop its repression. “Price-tag” acts aren’t taking place somewhere far away. They’re happening here, next door. Their perpetrators have come from this nation, not from another. The shame is our shame. As such, we must demonstrate, protest, write and shout against this phenomenon. We must flood every possible educational and community forum with the issue, and treat it with the same gravity we once treated the assassination of former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
A nation that has suffered pogroms mustn’t accept pogroms carried out against innocents by the “price-tag” perpetrators. It isn’t too late to remove this mark of disgrace.
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