As of this writing, panic is gripping everyone. A scoundrel murderer, a member of a minority, is roaming free and happy somewhere in the state of Tel Aviv, and no one knows where he is.
The Israel Police have been relieved of all their duties, and have devoted all their strength and capital to searches for more than five days that have yielded nothing. The army has also been called upon to assist in the search, and at this stage, they have not even found ancient pottery.
The terrorist, whose name and memory will be erased, even if he is caught, has already managed to wreak havoc and create terrible panic on the streets of the country. The entertainment centers that were packed to the brim are deserted. And even school principals are reporting intentional absences of up to twenty percent of the school's students, despite the grandiose security budget that the Minister of Defense gave them, until the fury passes. Even though crime rates have dropped to zero in recent days, they will blame it on the security forces deployed throughout the city, they will blame it on fear and anxiety about going out alone in the dark - and a thief, as we know, almost always walks alone under cover of darkness.
The fear is completely justified, both physically and mentally. When a potential murderer is roaming the city, everyone admits that they must hide from him and shelter in their homes and inner rooms until the fury passes.
Furthermore, when the Police Commissioner himself is required to issue such a publicized announcement, informing the residents of the Dan Bloc that they can return to normal, this is the defining moment and this is the time of fear, even for those who until now have been complacent and free of worries.
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But, one small statistic doesn't give me rest. What makes him different from a despicable terrorist, from those hundreds and thousands of potential murderers, who roam the streets of a city with a long knife in their pockets and the joy of death in their flesh. On the contrary, they are the ones to fear and be afraid of more. That terrorist, the favorite of the rumor mill on WhatsApp, is still on the run, moving from Tel Aviv to Bat Yam, and from Bat Yam to Nahariya and back again, God forbid, like a mouse that flees from its owner. And they, the 'silent murderers', roam day and night, their faces open and their burning hatred, on our streets, in our homes, and in our churches and seminaries. They are here, with or without his approval, whether we like it or not, but the fear of him is gone.
Does it make sense? It turns out it does.
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One moment. Another fact has been disturbing my peace for many days. Over the years of the state's existence, we have eaten bitter and filled ourselves with sorrow, with quite a few horrific and heartbreaking attacks. Just a little over a year ago, the five martyrs from the synagogue in Har Nof were slaughtered, butchered, and their limbs were amputated. The aforementioned attack was certainly terrible and shocking, delegations of journalists from Israel and around the world, gathered at the doors of the synagogue in order to understand and convey the magnitude of the horror. Newspaper headlines were smeared in red with names and pictures, and to this day the sword is deeply embedded in the flesh of the members of the community.
But despite all this, and with all the grief and bereavement, there was nothing special about the Har Nof neighborhood at that time. The Prime Minister's office vehicles did not visit the place and probably never will. Whereas in the last attack in Tel Aviv, the most severe and horrific attack, it must be said, the Prime Minister himself stood in the painful and bloody scene, flexing his muscles for the camera and for those standing next to him.
Is it possible? Is there any discrimination between blood and blood here? God forbid.
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The answer to both questions is one.
The state of Tel Aviv is an autonomy in itself. True, the 'Free Tel Aviv Army' has not yet been established, and the independence of the coastal state has not yet been declared. Still, Tel Aviv is not treated like Netzarim. Oops, like Har Nof, Nahariya, Ra'anana, Sderot, Beer Sheva, Kiryat Gat, and more.
Tel Aviv is the undeclared capital of Israeli sanity. Tel Aviv is the soft underbelly of the people who live in Zion. Psychologically and mentally, a blow to the nerve center of Israeli society is not like a 'light blow to the wing.'.
And if you agree with what has been written here so far, woe to us, and woe to our fellow men.
This simple, and so widely agreed-upon understanding that attacks in Tel Aviv must be responded to more decisively is the most difficult of the statements. It allows the blood of millions of 'ordinary' and unknown citizens living beyond the horizontal blue line of the most protected city in the Middle East to be shed.
This is impudence, this is audacity. And this is the biggest explanation for the question of why we are still stuck in this bloody discrimination between "elite" and "your people" for more than five generations.
Dear residents of Tel Aviv, we are with you. In pain, in stress, and in moments of anxiety. – But most of all, we feel that you are, finally, with us.
Menachem Mann is an ultra-Orthodox journalist and publicist.
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