Rising Crime

From Anthony Reich

The murder on Friday evening of Leonard Karp has solicited a response from the Prime Minister, who has rightly called upon Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharanovitch to address the issue of rising crime in Israel. Leonard’s body was found on a beach in north Tel Aviv on Saturday morning after he was attacked by a gang of thugs whilst out walking on the beach with his wife and daughter. The suspects rounded up include 5 male youths from the Arab village of Jaljulya and two teenage girls from Petach Tikva.

This murder has brought into sharp focus the rising crime that is unfortunately being experienced in Israel. Much of this is gang and mafia related with crime families instituting attacks and counter-attacks on each other. Some of the crime is drink and drug related with a number of recent stabbings having taken place at night clubs around the country. There is also a good deal of car theft and house burglary, mostly orchestrated by Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Arabs.

Relatively speaking, however, Israel is still an ideal environment to live in. When compared to other countries in the Middle East, in Europe and the USA, the crime experienced in Israel is still very low. There is absolutely no comparison to my native South Africa which is like the Wild West. I have no issue allowing my teenage children to be out at night on their own along with most of their friends. So although crime is unfortunately on the increase, it still has a long way to go until it reaches the dangerous levels experienced elsewhere.