Protest, but don’t block the road

Opinion: Protesters find that it is easier to disrupt the lives of thousands of innocent drivers and passengers, with the consent of the police, than take their grievances to those truly responsible: the government; Those who disrupt the lives of so many people must pay a price, not be awarded with sympathy and understanding.

Udi Etzion|Published: 01.31.19 , 23:19

Israel already has high automobile and fuel taxes and they are expected to further increase. Benzene tax will soon be at 67%. If the lives of Israeli drivers are not difficult enough, let alone public transportation passengers, along comes the trend of blocking the roads during protests and causing gridlock across the country.

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We, the ones behind the wheel, are now the primary target of public protests. Whether the disabled or the Haredim, and now the Ethiopians. Megaphones and placards in Rabin Square are no longer enough.

Ethiopians protest blocking Ayalon Road (Photo: Reuters)

For an effective protest the public must suffer. But where are the police whose job it is to ensure the wellbeing of thousands of citizens? They are enablers. They are adept at catching us with their tax trap schemes, known as speed cameras, but they can’t seem to deliver when it comes to our freedom of movement.

So I am turning to the protesters: Something is bothering you? Stop taking it out on innocent hostages. Go and vent your rage at the government or the police or whoever it is that you have complaints towards. But leave us alone, especially when we are in the race against time, sitting in traffic on the way home to our children.

How many children and their guardians suffered because of the protest Wednesday? Aside from public outrage, not much was accomplished with that.

Blocking the road harms, first and foremost, those in whose name the protest is being conducted. Trapping tens of thousands of Israelis on congested roads and embittering their lives for many hours is not an act of protest, it is pure hooliganism.

Instead of enlisting support, you accomplish the opposite of what you are trying to achieve. It is as if you drew a weapon and fired at us, the public. If we, drivers and passengers, can hardly look out for ourselves vis-à-vis the state, how are we supposed to be able to satisfy your grievances?

Every year, we give the state more than NIS 40 billion in taxes, so it has what it needs to distribute to you what you deserve as well as educate the police that a youth with a knife can be stopped without resorting to shooting him. The public has already paid the price.

It is time that those who disrupt the lives of so many people pay a price, instead of being awarded with sympathy and understanding.