Terrible irony
A terrible tragedy occurred in Netanya on Saturday, a man murdered his three children! Itai Ben Dror aged 38 has been a psychatric patient for many years and has been hospitalized several times, the last time only one and a half months ago. He has also tried to commit suicide multiple times. He is divorced, but under an agreement his children were allowed to spend some weekends with him. While they were staying with him, after they were asleep, he stabbed all three of them, Omer (10), Roni (8) and Or (5), and also tried to commit suicide by slashing his own wrists, but failed.
The question arises how was a man who is obviously mentally disturbed allowed to have children under his care and control. It seems that in this case the relevant child protection authorities were not involved in the decision by the couple to allow the children to stay with him. This fact has been criticized by many, including PM Netanyahu. An investigation and a trial are underway.
While such events are fortunately rare, such abnormal events ironically show how Israel is a "normal" country. In another case in Netanya, two men were arrested for shooting at a gang rival whose stores were also torched. Gang violence has always been a feature of Netanya, although it does not directly affect the lives of ordinary people. Whenever a violent act occurs the police have to decide whether it was criminally or nationally motivated.
Last night we went to an evening of jazz, entitled "Jazz in the night" at our AACI club. It was very enjoyable and well-attended. At the same time there were major events occuring in the main square, where the national TV channel "24" has a studio made out of transparent plastic and there have been public presentations by well-known singers and performers, and also the Municipality has performances at the cliff-top auditorium. The city was packed with people and some roads were closed.
Many people think that all Israelis think about is the "security situation," but that is not at all true. We rarely talk about it to each other, life is full of family, work, health issues and musical events. Life goes on as usual in the Jewish State.
The question arises how was a man who is obviously mentally disturbed allowed to have children under his care and control. It seems that in this case the relevant child protection authorities were not involved in the decision by the couple to allow the children to stay with him. This fact has been criticized by many, including PM Netanyahu. An investigation and a trial are underway.
While such events are fortunately rare, such abnormal events ironically show how Israel is a "normal" country. In another case in Netanya, two men were arrested for shooting at a gang rival whose stores were also torched. Gang violence has always been a feature of Netanya, although it does not directly affect the lives of ordinary people. Whenever a violent act occurs the police have to decide whether it was criminally or nationally motivated.
Last night we went to an evening of jazz, entitled "Jazz in the night" at our AACI club. It was very enjoyable and well-attended. At the same time there were major events occuring in the main square, where the national TV channel "24" has a studio made out of transparent plastic and there have been public presentations by well-known singers and performers, and also the Municipality has performances at the cliff-top auditorium. The city was packed with people and some roads were closed.
Many people think that all Israelis think about is the "security situation," but that is not at all true. We rarely talk about it to each other, life is full of family, work, health issues and musical events. Life goes on as usual in the Jewish State.
posted by Jack Cohen at 9:48 AM
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