For a second year in a row, Israel Hayom partnered with the organization Hashomer HaChadash for a conference devoted to fighting crime in southern Israel, the Galilee, and other regions plagued by lawlessness.
The goal of the Conference on Governance and Personal Security, which took place on Monday, was to hold an orderly discussion about governability and sovereignty and make the issue an urgent one on the public agenda.
The conference was broadcast live on the daily's website and other digital platforms.
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Prime Minister Yair Lapid, cabinet ministers, and senior police officers took part in the event through speeches and various panels, in which they discussed important issues concerning personal security in Israel. One of the main topics to be raised at the conference will deal with agricultural crime and control over open spaces.
Lapid delivered the opening address, saying, "The state's first responsibility is to protect its citizens, their homes, property, and fields. This is the only issue on which there will be no compromises. If the State of Israel wants to be a nation of laws, it needs tools with which to enforce the law."
Lapid went on to say that "for years, the law enforcement has been neglected, starved, not provided with the tools it needs, to ensure that Israel is a safe country for its citizens," and stressed that "the time has come for a change in policy. We are going to place the personal security of Israeli citizens in the State of Israel at the top of our national priorities."
He continued, listing the various challenges that must be addressed. "Drivers must not continue to recklessly drive their cars wild on roads in the south; young women must not be murdered by family members; farmers must not suffer destruction and theft in their fields; businesses cannot tolerate gangs that specialize in protection; bids should never be handed under the table, and children should never be stabbed when they go out for the evening."
He continued: "Women must be exposed to sexual or family violence without there being a way to protect them. I don't accept this. I know you don't either, that's why you are part of HaShomer HaChadash, part of an organization, why you are people who step up to the plate and don't complain, but take action. HaShomer HaChadash was not established in a vacuum, but rather because the state did not do its job. It let the criminals run wild and did nothing. Now we are putting an end to this. Just as we restored deterrence against Gaza – we will restore deterrence against crime; against street gangs involved in domestic violence, against agricultural crimes, and against government corruption. You are the solution – committed and competent young people – who stand at the forefront of Israeli society. Fifty thousand volunteers who guard the lands and educate others to love the land. Your only obstacle is that we need many more youngsters like you and we need many more policemen. This is what the country needs most today: to strengthen the police, the rule of law; to strengthen all those who stand as a protective wall in order to secure the safeguarding of citizens."
Lapid said that Israel needs "5,000 more police officers, 26 more Border Guard reserve units, and 30,000 more volunteers in the Israeli National Guard, which will be based on the operational principles of HaShomer HaChadash. We need to expand urban police units – out of 257 civil authorities in Israel, there are only 75 urban policing units. We must expand urban policing to every community in Israel, and especially in the Arab society."
The prime minister continued:: "The government I head has secured 1,400 new positions in the last year – the highest number of new positions that the police has received in the last decade, but it is still not enough. The government has presided over the largest buildup of the conscripted Border Guard units, but even that is not enough. We are putting a multi-year plan for permanent increases on the table, to provide the State of Israel with a tough, effective and significantly larger law enforcement apparatus than it has today, with much more resources and much more effective ability to ensure law and order on our streets. Organized crime and violence cost the country billions of shekels every year in property damage and insurance from car accidents. Every shekel that is put into enforcement saves the country three shekels. Put 5,000 more policemen, 26 more Border Guard units and 30,000 more security guards on our streets, and within two years the state of security in Israel will change. Pay these people a proper salary and within a year, security in Israel will look totally different. Society is based on law and order; we secure it and it looks after us. Together with the Ministry of Public Security, together with you, this government will upgrade law enforcement. This is our goal. This is our mission. We will succeed. Thank you very much."
Yoel Zilberman, chairman and founder of HaShomer HaChadash, greeted the audience at the conference saying: "There is a danger that is greater than Iran, and that is our internal security. We see how racketeering is spreading like a pandemic, mass distribution of weapons, a state of rampage on the roads. We are currently predicting a collapse of personal security. We are talking about the basic contract between the state and each citizen, that the state will start protecting him or her. But each citizen has the feeling that his and her personal security has been decreasing, and this is in contrast to the IDF's defense of our borders. We want to see decision-makers at all levels understand that internal security is the most critical issue, regardless of which government is in power This is the main issue on which the government will be measured and on which it will focus."
At the start of the conference, Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Omer Lachmanovitch, said: "A country's degree of sovereignty is measured by its ability to strive to achieve its national goals. The biblical book of Numbers, after the census of the tribes in the desert, says: "The children of Israel shall encamp, each man by his own camp and each man by his division." The flag is not just a physical sign, rather it signifies presence, as well as personal and national security.
"One of the most important elements in governance is not only making good decisions but also putting them into action. Israel Hayom has been dealing with issues related to the lack of governance and lack of personal security in Israel in day-to-day life and emergency situations for a long time – raising the issue of forming a national guard, and the de facto choking of Jewish communities in the Galilee, as well as through the concerning involvement of Negev residents in fatal road accidents.
"Our goal at the conference is to create discussions that will lead to active endeavors. As Zionist and Israeli journalists, we have the responsibility to prioritize discussions on issues of local governance and we undertake to continue to do so also in the future, with the understanding that this is the raison d'etre of a Jewish and democratic state. I would like to thank our partners, HaShomer HaChadash, the panelists and interviewees, as well as Israel Hayom's journalists and commentators, who cover these important issues and present you with the most reliable information on all Israel Hayom platforms. In Samuel Beckett's "Waiting for Godot," Estragon says: 'Let's do nothing, It's much safer.' The current situation in Israel's cities, towns, and open spaces demands that we take action for the sake of governance and for the personal security of each and every one of the country's citizens."
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