A dark day in Rishon Lezion

October 18, 2009 - 3:11 PM by David

Three members of the Oshrenko family who were discovered dead on Saturday.

Three members of the Oshrenko family who were discovered dead on Saturday.

Sorry to be so gloomy lately, but the Israelity of Israel lately is getting a little too real for comfort. Back when buses were blowing up in the early 2000s, there was a real sense of alarm, but also a feeling that the situation could be resolved, whether through military or diplomatic means.

The security fence, for all its ugliness and negative implications, solved the problem for the short term. But the problem facing Israel today can’t be solved by a fence or wall – unless each Israeli builds their own and isolates themselves.

The news that greated people on Saturday, or Saturday night if they’re religiously observant, talked of police calling it the ‘worst crime’ in Israel’s history being committed. A day after her Revital Oshrenko celebrated her third birthday in her Rishon Lezion home with her family – grandfather and grandmother Edward and Ludmilla, both 56; parents Tattiana, 28, and Dimitry, 32; and 4-month-old brother Netanel – the whole family was stabbed to death and their apartment set on fire in an apparent effort to cover up the murders. Some of the victims were said to have been stabbed repeatedly.

Rescue services only discovered the bodies when they were called to the home after a report of a fire. While a gag order has been placed on the police investigation, family friends and acquaintances, including Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov and the mayor of Rishon Lezion, said that the family members were model citizens.

Suspicions are rampant that the murders were ‘business’ related, pertaining to restaurants and clubs catering to Russian immigrants that Dimitry owned and operated. The murder is just the latest in a series of sensationalist killings that have taken place this year in the country, where non-terror murders were once considered a rare occurrence.

I would kind of prefer it going back to the old ways – at least then you knew who the enemy was. I still feel safe here, walking around at night, or sending my children unsupervised on buses. But slowly, with Israel’s social fabric in danger of being ripped asunder, there’s a growing sense of lawlessness – when I’m out jogging at night now, sometimes I think twice about running past a group of teens gathered at a street corner – it’s a feeling that a security fence will be powerless to prevent.

Tags: , , • Category: A New Reality, Crime, General, Life 

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One Comment on A dark day in Rishon Lezion

  1. A dark day in Rishon Lezion | JewPI on Mon, Oct 26th 2009 6:09 PM

    2. [...] Back when buses were blowing up in the early 2000s, there was a real sense of alarm, but also Read More » Share and Enjoy:Tags: 2000s, buses, Israel, Israelity Categories: Blogs, Israelity, jNet Related [...]

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