Together - we will restore peace of mind to our citizens

The goal - parents with peace of mind and peaceful streets

Organized crime is taking over our streets. In 2008 alone, ten underworld-related assassination attempts were made, leading to the wounding of innocent passersby. The strengthening of organized crime requires a straightforward national response based on an avowed goal to end the phenomenon of gang-war killings. Likewise, there has been a increase in the intensity and frequency of crimes committed against children of all ages. This violence surrounds us: in the streets, in the schools, and even within the home. This must be stopped. There must be no tolerance or understanding of violence against children. The Likud under Benjamin Netanyahu will confront these two grave phenomena forcefully and without compromise, its goal being: parents who enjoy peace of mind and peaceful streets.

Confronting Organized Crime

We must be honest: It is not enough to have a sense of security - we need real security. We are facing a real war in the streets of our cities and the authorities responsible for taking action are ineffective. It is not enough what the police, attorney general's office and justice system are doing to try to eradicate crime using the tools at hand. There must be a system-based national policy - and the recent governments of Israel have avoided making one. They were content with empty declarations. Contrary to what many believe, funding as important as it is, is not the whole picture. No one would argue with the need to improve salary conditions for policemen and other law enforcers, but that is not enough, nor is increasing the number of policemen. These so-called solutions cannot stop the unrestrained violence of organized crime gang members and cannot provide ‘personal security' to the man in the street. Because money cannot buy everything - That is why when the Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu return to office, they intend to change the rules. Their goal is clear: To reduce the crime rate of organized crime by 50% during the coming four years!

The way to achieve this is through an understanding that waging war begins with ‘the spirit of the commander and not with the gun barrel of the soldier'.

The ‘spirit of the commander' refers to an effective and efficient management of all the relevant systems - legislation, enforcement, and the court system. The ‘spirit of the commander' means full, unequivocal, and unwavering support for those in the forefront of the battle. The ‘spirit of the commander' means moving the fighting to the enemy's turf and combating him there until he is vanquished. It is possible, it is essential, and it is a matter of our survival.

If this was possible to do in New York, there is no reason that we cannot do it in our cities here. The Likud, which has proven its ability to eradicate Palestinian terror in the past, can also wipe out organized crime. The time has come for the heads of the organized crime syndicates, large and small alike, to understand that when the Likud takes office, they will be forced to go underground. A policy of ‘zero tolerance' with a clear aim: hit their financial interests, their status, and if necessary, the criminals themselves. The Likud will ensure that the ordinary citizen can live his life safely while it will be the gang members who have to fear for every step they take. The practical measures to be taken to achieve this are:

1. Passing special legislation setting forth minimum sentences for all offenses connected with organized crime (similar to the laws on the books today relating to murder).

2. The tax authorities will increase and tighten their monitoring of the crime syndicates, their partners, and all elements that assist them directly or indirectly in their activities.

3. Law enforcement authorities will implement a "policy of harassment" including frequent arrests to interfere with the daily routine of organized crime syndicate leaders. To accomplish this, regulations will be enacted to lower the legal requirements of evidence for arresting organized crime leaders.

4. A special team will be formed, to be headed by the Deputy Police-Commissioner and the Executive-director of the Prime Minister's Office, and consisting of the relevant police divisions (Intelligence, Central Division, etc.) in close cooperation with a national team made up of the Attorney General's Office, and a special assistant of the state attorney general. The team will meet regularly (at least once every two weeks) to evaluate the situation, make reports, and share information, as well as to give out new assignments as needed to carry out an unrelenting war against organized crime.

5. The Prime Minister will hold bi-weekly working sessions with the Police Commissioner (as he does with the head of Army Intelligence) on matters of homeland security, with the emphasis on the war against organized crime.

The aim: Putting pressure on all elements connected with organized crime which will force them to the decision: a total cessation of criminal activity or a continued unrelenting frontal confrontation with the law enforcement agencies, a confrontation where the ‘good guys' will always have the upper hand.

Benjamin Netanyahu and the members of the Likud will be committed to reality checks, not to PR. Budgets will be increased but that will not be all. We will make sure there is an especially costly ‘price tag' for everyone committing a crime that disturbs the peaceful daily life of the average citizen. We believe that it is the responsibility of the nation's leader and leadership to provide this without concern for the personal or political price they may have to pay. That is how Netanyahu and the Likud have acted in the past regarding grave issues of diplomacy, economic affairs, and security and that is how it will be regarding ‘personal security'.

We are committed to ensuring that every citizen feels safe and secure in his home. In his neighborhood. In his city. In his country.

The war on crimes against children

Here, too, the Likud will wage a ‘war to the finish'. The violence and vandalism that many of our children experience daily must be ended. This violence does not stop in the streets but has infiltrated the schools and classrooms. The ease with which our children are turned into helpless victims demands both social and legal measures. Here, too, the aim is clear: a complete halt to violence and bullying of children, among the youth themselves, too. Parents are entitled to demand that the state provide security to their children at school or at leisure. The statistic showing crimes by juvenile offenders and against juveniles has broken all records, both in degree and in frequency. The Likud intends to put a stop to the abandonment of our children to this violence. Some of the proposed steps include:

1. Heavier sentences for crimes against children, minors, and youth (including examining the possibility of minimum penalties).

2. Heavier sentences even for a first offence, to act as deterrence against young people adopting criminal patterns of behavior.

3. Heavier sentences for adults who enable youth to commit the crimes (closing down nightclub and pubs, imposing heavy fines, and even making arrests in serious cases).

4. Placing an emphasis on the role of the parents toward their children and not allowing a vacuum where children feel that they are not held responsible for their actions.

5. Preventing situations where youth and minors are in a place without any supportive guidance and group leader.

Here, too, Benjamin Netanyahu and the Likud are committed to reduce the level of violence in which youth are involved by 50% in four years. Schools and places of recreation must not become places of violence and injury. We will adopt a policy of deterrence: anyone who causes disturbances and injury to others will be treated with the full severity of the law. There will not be a policy of tolerance and clemency for such crimes. Everyone will know that whoever hurts a child will pay the full price, both for the deed itself and as a deterrent to others. Only in this way will we be able to restore a sense of security to our children and peace of mind to the parents.