Labor MK: Netanyahu government is afraid of terrorists

MK Stav Shafir criticizes right-wing politicians for demanding death penalty for PA Arab rapist, but fails to offer viable alternatives.

Hezki Baruch ,

Stav Shafir
Stav Shafir
Flash 90

MK Stav Shafir, one of the candidate for Labor party head, rejected the criticism of women's organizations and female Knesset members who failed to respond to the brutal rape of a 7-year-old girl.

On Sunday, Mahmoud Nazmi Abed Alhamid Katusa, a 46-year-old Palestinian Authority (PA) Arab, was indicted for kidnapping and raping a seven-year-old Israeli girl he met during his work at an Israeli school. At least two of the terror-rapist's friends were also present during the rape, covering the victim's eyes and holding her limbs to prevent her from moving, while laughing at her and saying she "deserves it."

"The rape of a 7-year-old girl is a shocking, horrifying, and terrifying event," Shafir told Arutz Sheva. "I haven't been able to get this story out of my head, the entire day, and I assume that the same goes for every person in Israel. The pain the family is experiencing is indescribable. There's no place for turning this issue into an argument."

Do you see this rape as a nationalistic incident?

"It's the rape of a seven-year-old girl which cannot be described in words. To try to turn it into a topic for arguments between the Right and Left and try to find which of your enemies is guilty is simply ugly. We're all Israelis, Zionists, and we're all against terror, and we're all shocked because we're all people."

What price should the rapist pay?

"We need to fight terror as much as we can. Not to be afraid of terrorists or terror, and to create a strategy which will give Israeli citizens true security. The current government is afraid and is acting without a security strategy."

The death sentence?

"As far as I know, the death sentence is legal and the army chooses not to use it. I would prefer that politicians not make populist statements, but instead do their work. Right now we have a government with no security strategy and the one protecting our security is our strong army. The army does this in an excellent fashion and it doesn't need statements from right-wing politicians right now."