Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon devoted part of his speech on Memorial Day to a harsh condemnation of the "price-tag" attacks, and was right to do so. Spraying Stars of David on mosque walls and deflating the tires of Arab cars in Jewish communities could make the life of Israelis of all backgrounds and religions impossible. One Arab contractor from Kafr Kana, who twice found his tires flat in Yokneam, vowed that he would continue living his life routinely, without fear -- but for how long? And how many will respond as he did? Such aberrant acts have started to inspire revenge. There is no way of knowing if even the horrible murder of Shelly Dadon from Afula last week was part of the broader price-tag concept. It's obvious that the Arab street won't accept price-tag attacks, and in a place where the police and the Shin Bet security agency aren't doing their jobs with a reasonably high level of success, hotheaded civilians are doing no less than taking the law into the own hands, adding to the travesty. On Tuesday, a swastika was discovered on the grave of Rabbi Abba Halafta of Zippori, who lived in the Galilee at the end of the first century C.E. This isn't the last price-tag attack. In a country so small with a history so long and so many historical monuments, it is easy to vandalize any place holy to any sector of the population. But these past few days, it seems that the Shin Bet and the police have started taking action and no longer view price-tag attacks as negligible mischief by bad apples. Their determination comes late, but the change is also welcome -- as long as the police don't just find a few youngsters itching for action and mothers who see themselves following in the footsteps of the biblical Yael, but actually penetrate to the hard core of leaders responsible for these acts, even if they are respected members of their communities. In the distant past, it took some time before the Shin Bet turned its full forces to exposing members of the Jewish underground. There was sensitivity surrounding their activity in settlements beyond the Green Line. If there was any similar sentiment regarding the price-tag attacks, the time when it may have been justified to wait for wisdom to prevail has come to an end. As Ya'alon said, the government must instruct the police and the Shin Bet to pull out all the stops, to establish cells of undercover agents among the suspicious population and bring those responsible to justice. Police on the streets need to understand that anyone who goes out under the cover of darkness to execute a price-tag attack is not a comrade from the time of the disengagement who out of deep pain threw a rock or a bucket of paint from the roof of a building in Gush Katif. Police who are quick to release price-tag suspects must understand the significance of the lightness with which they treat these criminals. It's time to make sure that we apply an equal standard of justice to all acts of nationalist-inspired revenge, whether perpetrated by Arabs or by Jews.
