police

One step forward for police, two steps back

By Ben Hartman / March 4, 2015 December 1, 2020

(This post originally appeared as a column in the Jerusalem Post weekend magazine on February 26th, 2015) Congratulations are in order for Gila Gaziel, who became the highest-ranking woman in the Israel Police on Sunday, when she was made the latest female assistant-chief – the second-highest rank in the force. A non-threatening pat on the back is also in order for the Israel Police, for making the promotion – as long, of course, as it avoids being tarnished by yet another …

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Caution: Arabs will steal this column!

By Ben Hartman / February 14, 2015 December 1, 2020

(This post originally appeared in the Jerusalem Post weekend magazine on February 13th, 2015) To paraphrase Naftali Bennett, if you are reading this column in a café, watch out: Arabs will steal your laptop. Speaking at a conference at Tel Aviv University on Sunday, the head of the Bayit Yehudi party said public security in Israel had reached a low point, then cherry-picked some examples. “Anyone who has toured the Negev in recent years knows they can’t leave their car at …

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The murder of a mob complainant – a reason for outrage

By Ben Hartman / February 1, 2015 December 1, 2020

Shai Bachar never had a chance. The bomb that tore through his car on Friday left him sprawled on the asphalt near the Hod Hasharon railway station, with massive internal injuries and burns across his body. Luckily, his 17-year-old daughter sitting in the passenger seat was only lightly hurt by the shock wave, but her father would be ruled dead shortly after sundown. One witness told Channel 2 that the car bomb which killed the produce vendor sounded like a rocket …

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Scenes from a terror attack

By Ben Hartman / January 21, 2015 December 1, 2020

The first news about the stabbing spree on the Tel Aviv bus Wednesday morning came in like it always does – in a short message on WhatsApp, trailed by a barrage of follow up questions and replies, sending my phone into seizures. Just like that, one moment you’re feeding your infant daughter breakfast and the next you’re taking pictures of blood puddles and paramedics, an avalanche of information piling up around you. Somehow nobody was killed in Wednesday’s attack, but the …

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Police vs politicians on the Temple Mount

By Ben Hartman / December 6, 2014 December 1, 2020

(This post was originally published in the Jerusalem Post weekend magazine on December 4th, 2014) One gets the impression as of late that if left up to the top command of the Israel Police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), the entire Temple Mount would be sealed off to all visitors, left to gather dust atop the Old City. That’s not possible, of course, as it would entail a radical change in the status quo, and banning access to one …

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What do you call it?

By Ben Hartman / October 23, 2014 December 1, 2020

It’s startling sometimes the difference an hour or two can make. Wednesday went from a quiet morning with my infant daughter and not much happening in Israel, to a gunfight on the Egypt border between smugglers and IDF troops, and then, later in the day, a deadly attack in Jerusalem in which a Palestinian man rammed his car into passengers at a light rail stop, killing a 3-month-old girl and wounding 8 others. From that point on a familiar scene played …

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Before the shitstorm

By Ben Hartman / June 24, 2014 December 1, 2020

Already neck-deep in tragedies, it feels like Israel is sailing into uncharted waters these days, ever since the abduction of teenagers Naftali Frenkel, Gil-ad Shaer, and Eyal Yifrah almost two weeks ago. At the moment no one can say for certain what will be the fallout, what will be the reckoning after they pull back the curtain and show us what’s not being said. Or months down the road, after the committee of inquiry submits its findings. For now the only …

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The Popo conference call has problems

By Ben Hartman / June 2, 2014 December 1, 2020

Somebody’s dog won’t shut the fuck up, and some fool – let’s call him Amichai – keeps dropping in and out of the conference call, bringing things to a halt each time. Once a week or so the Israel Police hold a conference call with crime reporters from all the national outlets. It’s usually when a big story breaks, or before a gag order is lifted, and they want to make sure everybody has the police narrative and the chance to …

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The bombs at those other schools

By Ben Hartman / May 14, 2014 December 1, 2020

No one knows how long the bombs were stashed at the school, but it could have been weeks, maybe longer, that hundreds of kids passed through the school none the wiser. The weapons were stashed in a closet inside a classroom that hadn’t been used for some time. It was a serious haul: 13 mortar shells, three rifles, incendiary flares, and sacks filled with hundreds of rounds of .9mm ammunition. The arsenal was found in Abu Snan only a few …

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On Price Tag attacks, tough talk and weak suggestions

By Ben Hartman / May 4, 2014 December 1, 2020

Carmi Gillon is not impressed. Following a series of “Price Tag” attacks (acts of vandalism or violence directed at Arabs, often in response to Israeli government policy in the Palestinian Territories) within the Green Line, the former Shin Bet Chief said Israel could stop the attacks if the authorities really wanted to and that like the agency dealt with the Jewish underground when he was in charge, they could do the same if they just had the willpower. “We don’t …

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