In recent days, members of the radical Right have been holding demonstrations -- some violent -- to protest the administrative detentions of the alleged Jewish terrorists believed to be behind summer's deadly arson attack in Duma, which killed three members of a Palestinian family, including an 18-month-old boy. The protesters have picketed the homes of senior law enforcement officials and staged demonstrations on street corners. The more the investigation progresses and indictments move closer, the louder the protests become. Perhaps the significance of Jews committing such murders has finally dawned on the protesters. The suspects' lawyers have been fueling these protests by spreading false rumors that they were being tortured by the Shin Bet security agency. But the lawyers are just doing their job. They hope this approach will help build a solid defense for their clients. My advice to the suspects and their supporters is to show restraint, and even more importantly, tamp down their rhetoric. If it turns out that the interrogators overstepped their legal authority, Israel has the necessary means to prosecute them. But if it turns out that these suspects indeed carried out the attack in Duma, all those protesters and their leader will have to eat a lot of crow. They will have to grapple with the realization that their young people, supposedly raised on Jewish values, went astray and committed such violent acts. What the Duma attackers did was no youthful transgression or juvenile prank, but very serious violence that motivates Palestinian terrorists to attack Jews. The Shin Bet works tirelessly to fulfill its sole mission: protecting Israelis. Its agents work around the clock to prevent terrorism and hunt down its perpetrators. Their work is never done, as they constantly face new waves of terrorism that take new forms. It is such a pity that the organization has to expend so much energy to prevent Jewish terrorism on top of everything else, because it means that essential resources are being diverted away from combating the main threat -- Palestinian terrorism. I have no doubt that the Shin Bet follows the letter of the law. The interrogation techniques have been written into law and sanctioned by multiple court decisions. Considering what the Shin Bet went through after the Bus 300 Affair (when interrogators deliberately killed suspects), it is hard to imagine the Shin Bet taking the law into its own hands. Unfortunately, media heavyweights have joined forces with the detainees and their representatives, turning their defense attorneys into media darlings. This warm embrace has become stronger every time those lawyers utter worn-out cliches normally relegated to the subversive activity of Breaking the Silence (a group that highlights alleged misconduct of Israeli soldiers). It is hard to understand why the Right, even as it fights Breaking the Silence, adopts the group's very arguments just so it can de-legitimize the Shin Bet. Israeli citizens are grateful for the Shin Bet; our lives depend on it. Given the current circumstances, let's hope the investigation is completed soon. It is essential that we get answers to what happened in Duma.
The Shin Bet protects us all
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
