Behind the Headlines: Terror Attacks Leave Israelis Feeling Frightened and Angry

The sharp increase in the number of Arab terrorist attacks against Jews in recent weeks has left Israelis feeling frightened and angry.

The wave of violence, which has claimed eight Israeli lives this month, has spurred the government, as well as individual citizens, into action.

For more than a month, Arab terror has been the lead story on the 9 p.m. television news, as well as the headline-grabber in daily newspapers. The issue has become so critical that, at the top of every hour, passengers on public buses fall silent so they can catch the latest news broadcast being piped over the loudspeaker.

The tension that has been simmering since the murder of border policeman Nissim Toledano in mid-December boiled over last weekend, following the slaying of Israel Defense Force soldier Yehoshua Friedberg, an idealistic immigrant from Montreal.

Friedberg’s murder, coming on top of several others, evoked a nationwide outpouring of rage and sorrow — rage that yet another soldier had been kidnapped and killed, and sorrow at the senselessness of the young immigrant’s death.

His brutal slaying has galvanized the government into action. All too aware of the public’s growing concerns over national security and personal safety, the authorities have begun taking steps to calm the situation.

Israelis on the street, meanwhile, are taking extraordinary precautions.

“I’ve felt a growing sense of uneasiness in the last month,” said Yael Friedman, a Hebrew-language teacher in Jerusalem.

“Now, when I pass a construction site with Arab workers, I make it my business to walk very quickly. If I suspect that an Arab is walking behind me, I cross to the other side of the street.

“I hate to admit it,” she continued, “but I went out and bought a can of tear gas a month ago, when things started getting really tense.”

GROWING FEARS FOR FAMILY’S SAFETY

“I’ve begun carrying my gun around more than I used to,” said Harold Bergstein, a dentist who works in the administered territories a couple of times a week.

“I bought the gun two years ago, at the time I starting working in the territories,” he said, “but I didn’t feel compelled to carry it at other times.

“These days, I wear the gun not so much for personal safety reasons — I don’t feel that much safer with it, to tell you the truth — but because I would never forgive myself if I encountered a terrorist and the gun was sitting in a drawer back home.” Bergstein does not advocate issuing gun permits to all citizens, however. “While I trust that those people who already have permits will use their guns responsibly, the idea that every home should have a gun smacks of vigilantism,” he said. “A gun permit isn’t a right; it’s a responsibility.”

Electrician Gidi Yacoby maintains that he will never pack a gun, despite growing fears for his family’s safety.

“Events over the past month have definitely worried me,” he admitted. “I’m not afraid for myself, but I’m scared to death that something will happen to my wife and 11/2-year old son.”

Yacoby said his wife’s car was recently stoned in Abu Tor, an Arab-Jewish neighborhood where his son goes to preschool. “They’re constantly torching cars there, for God’s sake,” he lamented.

Still, he said, “I don’t carry a weapon. I’m too hot-tempered. I know that if I had a gun and I felt threatened, I would shoot first and ask questions later.

“Terrorism is frightening, but so is the thought of hot-headed people like me walking around with guns.”

Despite recent terror incidents, Erica Farber, a tourist from Long Island, said she feels “safer in Israel than I do in New York.”

While she said she understands the concern of many Israelis, she does not share it.

“I’ve heard a lot about terror since I’ve been here,” said the 19-year-old, “but I’m not at all afraid. I’m not looking over my shoulder.”

In deference to her Israeli cousins, Farber does not hitchhike, and she informs her family where she is going.

“Honestly, I feel very safe here,” she said, “but I’m from New York, so everything’s relative.”