So What Can We Do?
In light of all this, it’s hard to swallow the “dispossession and discrimination” line being bandied about to justify Israeli Arab violence and crime. When you unravel all the arguments of racism made by Arabs and leftists, you’re mostly left with feelings of discrimination in being accepted to jobs. But in a country where judges, senior doctors and heads of colleges are Arabs, it’s hard to accept this as a justification for revolt.
The reasons for the outbreak of violence therefore need to be found elsewhere, in the culture of extended family and tribe which is still very strong in the Arab sector, as well as the strengthening of Islamist bodies in Israel in recent years. These are slowly diverting the energies and organizational capabilities used for crime in a more nationalist direction, and to rally the masses for a struggle for the Palestinian homeland in the Arab triangle and Wadi Ara.
Because of this, police programs for community policing and “increasing trust” by studying cultural gaps and ethnic sensitivities are simply irrelevant. Such plans create an atmosphere in the police of either justifying or excusing crime by recognizing the “difficult background” of rioters and their “narrative” for the Israeli War of Independence.
Sadly, the police have been increasingly exposed to such programs primarily through a designated program promoted by the left wing organization, the Abraham Fund, and with the cooperation of the police. The “policing in a torn society” program teaches senior police officers to take cultural differences into consideration, understand the criminals’ motives and to try and rebuild trust. The result of all this is the “containment” policy, which enables riots to take place on a limited scale so that the oppressed minority can express its “authentic rage”.
The containment policy avoids “provocations”, does everything to lower the flames, and distributes police everywhere with hands tied behind their back who are somehow supposed to physically block the spillover of riots into Jewish areas and major roads.
This is not an Israeli invention. In 1966, race riots rocked the United States. The mayor of Detriot, a liberal and progressive politician, tried to understand the rioters, talk to them and absorb their rage. Although the police was warned about the weapons the rioters possessed, they were not properly prepared, and the cost was high: 43 dead. At the same time, riots took place in Chicago. The somewhat less enlightened mayor there gave the police far more aggressive orders: within three days, the riots died down and only two people were killed.
Another time the mayor of Chicago gave a clear order, which was also aired in the media: “shoot to kill.” This led to withering criticism from “enlightened” intellectuals and the media, but it was worth it: order was restored quicker and with fewer casualties.
Despite the differences between what happened here and what’s happening here, human nature means that riots have common characteristics. As economist Thomas Sowell pointed out “anything can start a riot. The question is how you stop them. And James Q. Wilson once said, ‘The only thing that will stop the riot is overwhelming force on the scene.'” We might want to try it.