The Ministry of Education in conjunction with the ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) is embarking on a new program, a program intending to rehabilitate Hilltop Youths. The program being called “The Jewish Shepherd” hopes to persuade these misguided youths to abandon price tag attacks and rejoin society. The program has received the approval of the Prime Minister’s Office, and it will also involve the Ministry of Welfare and Ministry of Justice as the government seeks to address the problem of a growing number of juveniles who have simply decided to drop out of society and adopt a life of rejecting all forms of authority.
The program is designed to highlight the self worth of these stray youths, hoping to accent their ability to accomplish and achieve in life towards motivating them in areas viewed that may be attractive to them and their lifestyle. Dalit Stauber, the director-general of the Education Ministry admits the program is not entirely virtuous, explaining that while they do want to genuinely help these misguided youths, they are equally eager to bring a halt to the so-called ‘price tag’ attacks which seem to be more commonplace by the day.
The realization that so many minors are involved in price tag activities has compelled the various state agencies and ministries to become involved, cautiously optimistic that these youths are young and therefore, they can be persuaded to abandon their law-breaking lifestyle and rejoin society to some degree. The program will focus on youths 14-18 living in the hilltops. The first step will of course be to identify who these youths are.
The initial reaction of Shomron residents to leaked details of the plan is one of “caution”, apparently the result of police and ISA involvement as opposed to just social workers or other non-law enforcement agencies.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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4 Responses
Not only charedim is the “education ministery” out to “rehabilitate”, but Hilltop Youths, the Religious Zionists, are also a thorn in the eyes of the chilonim.
Of course random revenge attacks are illegal and the authorities won’t ignore them. But the article portrays the youth involved in a strictly negative light and ignores the real frustration felt by these youths. We’re talking in general about young idealistic Jews constantly frustrated by seeing their fields and property attacked and damaged stolen or destroyed by Arabs with no appropriate and effective reaction from the timid authorities. So they take action in their own hands. First they need to be understood and their frustrations affirmed. There frustration is a direct result of anti-jewish policies taken by a so called jewish government. They have alienated a large section of the most loyal idealistic and motivated section of society
This need a translation into standard language.
“Using the ridiculous excuse of suppressing an activity that is considered by Israeli law as a minor offence and which to date no one has ever been convicted of perpetrating, the Israeli secret police intend to abduct anti-government teenagers and brainwash them into obedient drones.”
This all being done to strengthen DeMockracy in Israel.
In western democratic countries, the government doesn’t “rehabilitate” people who hold unpopular political views.
But of course, we are talking about a middle eastern country that is democratic only in comparison with the rest of its neighbors (analagous to being a sports powerhouse in the Ivy League).