Speak softly and carry a big stick

The Israeli consulate in Los Angeles held a cocktail party in a restaurant in honor of the creators of the film "Ajami," an Oscar candidate for Best Foreign Language Film. During the celebration, actor Elias Saba, who looks particularly young, lifted a glass of champagne to toast his friends. Before he could say a word, the owner of the restaurant stopped him and asked whether he was 21, the minimum age for serving alcohol in California. Because he had no such ID, he was insulted. Even though the consul explained to him that those are state laws, the actors left the restaurant angrily, one for all and all for one - the motto of the Three Musketeers that is applied in Israel, too, when it comes to violating the law in public.

For years Israel fought unsuccessfully against smoking in public places, as was the case with many other municipal laws. But the moment they began to impose heavy fines on restaurant owners, the smoking stopped. On the other hand, the prohibition against selling alcohol to people under 18 has become a joke. More and more accidents and violent quarrels involve drunken children.

And if the young people are not high on alcohol, they get high by inhaling gas from air conditioners in public buildings, which has already caused several accidents. Has anyone thought of blocking access to this lethal drug? Is anyone keeping track of what and to whom the kiosks are selling? And what do you do with a 27-year-old woman who was arrested on suspicion of raping boys aged 14 and 15 and sexually abusing children aged 4 to 9 by threatening them with a knife and buying their silence in exchange for cigarettes and alcohol?

If we add up all these sick episodes and the 31,000 killed in traffic accidents since the establishment of the state, we can say that the situation in the film "A Clockwork Orange" pales in comparison. Fistfights, vandalism against private and public property and more violence in the schools. The young people who are our future are more violent, and the street is less safe.

This week, amazingly, a police-station armory was emptied of its weapons in a nighttime break-in.

And the story about a 14-year-old girl whose "friends" at school raped her over three years at the initiative of her boyfriend, whom she was in love with - was that also one for all and all for one? The police said the boy who initiated the rapes is "emotionally blocked." But that's not the opinion of his mother, who said he is a "pure soul."

We can cautiously say that today's parents have "resigned" from their jobs - it's as though they don't have to deal with their children's classic claim: "I'm bored." Children today have television, computers and cell phones, through which they are exposed to sex and enticements to buy drugs, which are camouflaged as ordinary medicines. And they form dangerous acquaintanceships, which often end badly.

The cell phone is one cause of the lethal traffic accidents. Nothing infuriates me more than the sight of a woman pushing a baby carriage, crossing a street with one hand on the carriage and the other on the cell phone.

In the past, young hooligans would disturb the audience in movie theaters with catcalls and by rolling empty bottles. The police would occasionally intervene and fine the hooligans. During that period an article by Rafael Eitan (yes, the former chief of staff) appeared in Haaretz in which he suggested restoring flogging as a punishment. "That's the only language the hooligans understand," he wrote. The fact is, we overcame this nuisance and the plague of stealing flowers in public parks.

But what we have now is a country that violates the law on all levels. Although the police have been quite successful recently handling the crime families, they pay less attention to hooligans and people who defy the law. A crime is a crime, but even here there is an infuriating ranking. The most serious phenomenon is breaking into the apartments of solitary, poverty-stricken old people, who are cruelly beaten so they will reveal where they "hide" their money.

Although Israel is a country that grants rights to suspected criminals, it's unconscionable to have a situation where drivers who run over others are released to house arrest while the victims have died or are fighting for their lives. Despite the presumption of innocence, if you run someone over in a traffic accident you must be considered guilty until you prove otherwise.

The police must show zero tolerance toward violent demonstrators such as the ultra-Orthodox who throw diapers filled with excrement at policemen. The violence in the territories also affects what happens at home. The hooligans of the settlements must not have the upper hand.

The country is so busy with Iran and construction in the territories that it has stopped paying attention to quality of life, which is an important part of our security. The increasingly serious evil must be handled with soft words, but with a big stick. So what in the world is the public security minister doing?