Wednesday, February 14, 2018
New Media Editor Sarah Tuttle-Singer, of the Times of Israel introduced her newest
blog, Why
I want the security guy at the train station to search me, on the Times of
Israel bloggers’ Facebook page with these words, “There are two things I care
about when it comes to Israel: Security and equality. And this is why I say
with no hesitation: Search Muhammed. And search me. Search everyone.”
The fallacy of these words hit me with immediate clarity. I
knew what her blog said without reading it. She was going to say that everyone
has to be checked by security guards, both Jew and Arab, in order to protect
democracy—that equality means checking everyone, irrespective of whether or not
they might be guilty.
But that isn’t equality. Equality is about holding everyone
to the same societal standards. If Moshe is a bad boy, he goes to jail. If Mohammed
is a bad boy he goes to jail. Because everyone is supposed to be good and obey
the law. And when they don’t, there are repercussions.
Because that is how the security apparatus protects our
liberties. They have intel. They use it to protect everyone. The intel is what it
is. It’s what Moshe or Mohammed make it. And should Moshe’s or Mohammed’s
relatives tend to be rowdy, they then become “the usual suspects” and anyone
who looks, sounds, or acts like them is identified and scrutinized.
That’s how we protect equality. By making sure that everyone
has the right to safety and security. And by setting standards of appropriate
behavior. And making sure there are consequences to bad behavior.
And if Moshe or Mohammed don’t want their families
scrutinized, they need to behave. Period.
But let’s say one relative doesn’t go along with the rowdy
bunch. He’s a good guy. Is it fair that he be profiled, scrutinized, his
liberties temporarily curtailed?
Absolutely. Because these standards protect him, too. Which is why, by no stretch of
the imagination can it be called collective punishment to more carefully
scrutinize Arabs going through Israeli security points. Because 99% of terror
attacks in Israel are carried out by Arabs.
Enforcing the law and being tough on criminals or those at
risk of becoming criminals, is how we protect our civil liberties and our
security. For everyone. Equally. If a terrorist blows up a train, Arabs get
hurt, too. The entire point of security is to prevent everyone from getting
hurt, both Arab and Jew.
That is real equality,
while checking everyone would be a mere performance, a show of equality, not
the real thing.
I monitored the comments on the TOI bloggers’ Facebook page.
No one was saying what I was thinking. The next day I read the blog, and the
comments below. No one had written what I was thinking (as of this writing). So
I ventured to say it myself, on the Facebook TOI bloggers’ page:
Equality, yes. Hold peoples to the
same standards. Jews are, by and large, not carrying out terror attacks against
people in malls and train stations. You can tell by looking at them if they are
the rare exception. Which is how the intelligence community managed to
infiltrate the youth group of Rabin's assassin (and incite the killer to
murder): they knew this was a rare extremist group because of the way they
looked, spoke, acted [Tuttle-Singer had referenced Yigal Amir in an earlier
comment on the thread, “The only person to assassinate an Israeli PM was a
Jewish Israeli.”]
So why should manpower and money be
wasted to check every single Jew, when the Jews are by and large, a peaceful
people? Equality under the law means holding people to the same standard. A
people with a large proportion of terrorists must unfortunately be scrutinized
with care, also for the sake of those among them who are innocent and might be
harmed by the actions of those among them who are violent.
I too, always thank security guards
for checking me, as I know this is for my own safety. But I am also grateful
when they use their common sense, look me over, know I'm a granny with
arthritis, without a violent bone in my body, and wave me through without
further ado.
I am tempted to blog about this, so
I hope you will answer me, Sarah Tuttle-Singer. It is not equality to check
every single person, when you know which people are the ones [who] may or may
not endanger society. Equality is holding peoples to the same standards.
Jews, in general, don't deserve to
be treated with suspicion. Certainly not Feige Rochel, for example, whose
sector has never perpetrated a terror attack at a bus station, AFAIK. That
would just be holding up people to make a show of equality, when the real
equality is to hold her sector to the same standard: are Haredim perpetrating
terror attacks?
Equality doesn't mean an
inconvenient show. It means societal standards of behavioral norms.
Sarah did, in fact, respond to me, as follows:
Varda, for the sake of our Jewish
and democratic state we should demand equality. It's essential or we wither.
I'm willing to be inconvenienced
and we can and should find budget for more guards if necessary. The prime
minister's ice cream budget ought to cover some of the costs.
Search everyone.
Feige Rochel and Varda Epstein and
Sarah Tuttle singer and Igal Amir and
Yosef Chaim Ben David and ruvi
rivkin and that random barista and Omar al-abed and
Muhammad salim and george
dabit and the woman who works in the clothing store on Hebron road and EVERYONE
should be subject to same rules
And treatment.
And the guilty should go to jail.
As I didn’t feel this answered my question, I tried
narrowing things down further, as follows:
There's an issue with this idea: it
means focusing on everyone, which dilutes/diverts the focus away from probable troublemakers.
It harms everyone by making the
security apparatus LESS effective.
It's not about the inconvenience or
money. It's about the fact that this is not real equality, but a show of
equality. The real equality is holding people to the same standard, which
deters actual terrorists.
I really hoped that Sarah would see my point and speak to
it. But she didn’t deign to respond. She’d doubled down, reiterated her talking
points, and closed shop.
Which is a pity. Because I want security and equality every
bit as much as she. I want both Moshe and Mohammed to be safe. I want the
terror and the fear to end.
And that requires true equality, equality under the law, and
not some silly superficial spectacle masquerading as the same.
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