We’ve been feeling increasingly uncomfortable with the aftermath of Jewish terrorist Natan Zada’s murder – when Ha’aretz thinks that Israeli are going overboard on self-flagellation, one begins to suspect that there might be a problem. It occurred to us that no one from the lynch mob who beat Natan Zada to death has been arrested or tried, despite the fact that the Druse who did it are Israeli citizens and the police presumably know instigated the riot. The essence of a country guided by the rule of law is that even when guilt is obvious, mobs don’t get to dispense justice. Rioting outside of a police station and demanding that criminals be handed over for street vengeance is how the other side does it.
Finally, after asking a couple of readers who might know, we got this answer from reader Kenneth:
It was said at the time that arrests would take place after the mourning period ends. I think the mourning period is 40 days. Judging from previous police action in those areas, my guess is that at 3:00AM one morning everyone will be detained within minutes and the police will rush them out of the area before the neighbors have a chance to act.
No matter how much damage someone does, there’s a reason that Israel has a transparent and independent court system. Natan Zada’s murderers should be brought to justice before a court of law just as surely as he should have been. Being a citizen implies certain obligations, and not primitively tearing someone limb from limb because you don’t like something he did is one of them – no matter how heinous that something was.
