The No Response Team

The heat is taking it's toll. Not only have we had murders and deaths, but they have been more brutal than we usually see here. Some poor chap was beaten to death near Tel Baruch Beach by kids from Jaljuliya. It appears the case of the "dismembered mother and daughter", has been solved. A nutter who was "romantically involved" with the mother, needed some cash. It seems to go on and on. Today, Dudu Topaz (Israeli comic) committed suicide in his jail cell where he was being held for organizing "hits" on media executives who would not put his show back on the air. Well he is certainly getting attention now.

For the last week, while driving to work I have passed the graffiti you see above. It's on the corner not far from squint central. For the Hebrew impaired, the top picture boasts "Beitar Jerusalem - Emperia", some twisted soccer fan's idea of tasteful support. More worrying is the slogan that usually accompanies this, and can be seen in the top left hand corner - "Death to Arabs". Clearly the graffiti artist is not unifying the laws of physics any time soon. You can tell by the catchy "I'm kil for you beitar" written on the wall opposite.

It bothered me, that graffiti. Especially after listening to the "Tipping Point", where Malcolm Gladwell makes the point that in New York, cleaning up the graffiti in the subway went a long way to tipping the end of the crime spree and violence so rampant in the 70s and 80s. So I called the City of Herzliya's Moked (City Response Team) - the phone just rang and rang. I called four times during the day: No answer. Maybe they're all at the beach.