Over the weekend, when we heard the news that four of the six escaped prisoners had been captured by Israeli police, we felt a combination of relief and frustration – multi-directional frustration.
The reason we felt relief is clear: not only because the fugitives were captured, which is indicative of the strength and resolve of the Israeli security forces, but also because Israeli-Arab citizens refused to cooperate with the escapees. But we also feel frustrated by the direction and tone dictated by the Arab social media and political leadership, who expressed support for the fugitives, whom they consider heroes, presenting a seemingly monolithic picture of Arab public opinion.
But what is it exactly that they support? What was so heroic in the fugitives’ actions? How exactly did those actions advance us in the Israeli Arab society? Also, how is it that a state as strong as Israel is not redoubling its efforts to fight crime in the Arab sector, just as it did to apprehend the escaped prisoners?
We live and breathe the social climate and feel its pulse, so we know that if the Arab street was indeed so sympathetic towards the escapees, they would not have been apprehended as they were – hungry, exhausted and most especially alone, after not only not receiving any assistance, but after the Israeli Arabs they encountered even reported their location to the authorities.
The tone on social media is dictated from above by extremists and terrorist supporters. As vocal as they are, they represent only a tiny minority, while we represent the silent majority of Israeli Arabs that recognizes the authority of the state, respects law and order, looks to the future rather than to the past, aspires to fully integrate into Israeli society and does its part to contribute to its success and prosperity and that of its Arab society.
Why then does the view we are expressing here sound subversive and courageous when it is tacitly supported by the vast majority of Arab-Israeli citizens? Because we find ourselves in a situation where Arab society is no longer governed by law and order, but rather by the ancient law of the jungle, where might makes right. We do not absolve ourselves of responsibility for our lives, and all the more so in recent years. We also have to work on ourselves, and believe us when we say that we are doing so tirelessly, every day and every hour.
But with all due respect to our own responsibility, it is frustrating to see the immeasurable gap between the high level of governance and efficiency the state demonstrated in Arab towns and communities during the search for the escapees and the situation in normal times, when there is an absence of governance or concern on the part of the law enforcement authorities for what happens in our streets and towns.
Israeli society must understand this: it is not only the six escapees who have innocent blood on their hands; so do countless criminals who demand protection payments, who draw guns and knives to settle arguments, who murder women. The criminal organizations freely prowl our streets and make our lives a living hell as they paralyze entire communities with fear. As individuals who have been involved in formal and informal education for decades, we also see the toxic and dangerous culture proliferating in our public spaces, sweeping up innocent, well-meaning youth or coercing them to cooperate against their will. These are the ones that we are later forced to bury, one after another.
The past week in which the police and security services worked closely together to hunt down the escaped prisoners served as conclusive proof of the government’s ability to enforce law and order in Israel’s Arab society when it wants to. In the wake of such a compelling demonstration of its ability to do so, there is no justification whatsoever to continue to abandon us to live in fear of violent criminals. We want to see Israel pursue them to the bitter end.
On behalf of the silent Arab majority among Israel’s citizens, we demand that the government continue to exercise the same might and competence that it demonstrated this past week until our towns and communities are finally liberated from the fear of violence and crime, and that the police enable Israel’s Arab citizens to enjoy the same personal security enjoyed by the rest of Israel’s citizens.
Tony Nasser is the director of the Atidna youth movement. Dr. Dalia Fedila is the co-CEO of Atidna.