Two parallel incidents in Israel have had completely different results, despite sharing nearly identical details.
Kiryat Ono Mayor Israel Gal was attacked Sunday evening by a man who said the mayor did not keep a promise he allegedly made to him.
Police said the suspect pushed the mayor immediately following a council meeting in the town. The suspect was detained following his arrest.
He was to be brought before the Tel Aviv Magistrates Court for a determination on whether and how long to extend his remand.
A second Israeli political leader was also attacked this week as well.
Bayit Yehudi Knesset member Shuli Moalem-Refaeli was attacked by a screaming Muslim Arab woman while she was touring the Temple Mount.
The attacker shouted “Allah huAkbar!” (Allah is Great!) And then physically shoved the Israeli parliamentarian.
Police arrested the Arab woman and brought her to the local precinct for questioning, according to Israel Police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld.
But after that point, the flow of information mysteriously stops and it is impossible to determine what happened to the female Muslim Arab attacker after that.
Was she detained following her arrest? Or is she now free to be able to continue to harass other Jewish visitors to the site?
The Israel Police spokesperson was unable to provide any answer to these questions, saying he did not know but would “check it out.” It has been impossible to reach the spokesperson ever since.
Israelis have the right to feel safe from threats to their personal safety and that of their leaders.
It is not clear to this writer why the consequences of any attack by either Muslim or Jew, male or female, should be shrouded in mystery.
Nor is it clear why the story of one attack and its consequences should be so crystal clear that it merits nearly no interest at all, and yet the same standard of law somehow fails to be applied in the capital city, barely an hour away.
I would have thought that the sauce for the goose surely has to be good for the gander, but perhaps that rigid standard applies only in “anglo” countries abroad.
Or perhaps with regard to Arab attacks, Israel is holding off on the sauce altogether these days.
