Slayings of two Israeli youths raise public outcry

JERUSALEM -- Two brutal killings of Israeli youths in less than a week are forcing the nation to focus on juvenile violence.

The fatal stabbing of Gilad Raviv, 15, in Jerusalem on June 10 took place a few days after the beating and stabbing death in Nazareth of Yevgeny Ya'acobovitz, also 15.

Raviv was stabbed to death by a 19-year-old male, who reportedly later said he had reacted to insults against him.

Ya'acobovitz was stabbed and beaten to death with kitchen knives, brass knuckles and a baseball bat by a group of other teenagers after he offended one of them by calling him "a cheapskate."

Five youths have been detained in the slaying of Ya'acobovitz.

A recent survey carried out by Israeli educational television showed that 92 percent of children encounter some form of violence at school. In reaction to the survey's results, educational television will air special programs encouraging tolerance.

All high schools began classes Sunday with a discussion of youth violence.

Assa Kasher, one of Israel's leading philosophers, said Sunday that the violence among youths reflected the general level of violence in the society.

"Youths regard part of the behavior of grown-ups as a license to kill," he said.

Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak, spoke about youth violence during a radio interview last Friday.

"There are things going on which are fraught with the potential for violence, and which include attempts to smuggle drugs into the schools, under the noses of the welfare authorities and the police," Barak said.

"The new government will take all necessary steps to create a framework within the schools so that pupils can safely go to the pizzeria or falafel stand without fearing for their lives."

Public Security Minister Avigdor Kahalani suggested that knives in schools should be confiscated.

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, a leader of the fervently religious Shas Party, blamed the problem on secular youths not studying Torah.

Avraham Ben-Shabbat, the head of the Histadrut Teachers' Union, sharply condemned a statement by Knesset member David Azoulai of the Shas Party that the immodest attire of women teachers is responsible for recent outbreaks of youth violence.

Reuma Weizman, the president's wife, said on Israel Radio last Friday that she plans to organize a task force to recommend steps to curb the violence.

"In a short time we have gone from violence to murder," she said.

Weizman said she had heard of 12-year-olds carrying knives to school, and teachers and principals failing to alert the authorities. Over the next two weeks Weizman said she will hold meetings with police, youth psychologists, and officials of the Union of Local Authorities.

However, a teacher from northern Israeli told Israel Radio that numerous committees on violence have been established, but proved ineffective.

The 19-year-old suspect in Raviv's stabbing is Shlomo Gabai, who has a previous stabbing conviction and a history of mental illness.

Last Friday, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court extended by 15 days the remand of Gabai, and also ordered that he undergo psychiatric observation.

The suspect was convicted in 1997 in a youth court and imprisoned for eight months after stabbing a youth from another school.

Gabai had been bothering Raviv when a police officer noticed. The officer told Gabai to keep away from the other teenagers, but let him keep the knife he saw him holding.

The officer was suspended after the stabbing, for violating regulations.

Gabai was often seen walking around with a pocket knife. A police officer told the court that Gabai's nickname was "Shlomo the Butterfly," after the kind of knife that he carried.

Barak, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau and Jerusalem Mayor Ehud Olmert all paid condolence calls to Raviv's family on Sunday.

Tears streamed down the cheeks of Raviv's mother, Margalit, as she said: "It's sheer stupidity, how stupid the policeman was not to take away the knife."

The suspect's father, Zaki Gabai, who is unemployed and ill, said his son has always behaved violently and suffered from mental disturbances. The couple placed him in an institution for 11 years and later, when he returned home, they encountered difficulties in dealing with his violent outbursts, he said.

"Perhaps we are to blame that we sent him to an institution and he felt neglected. He wanted to live a normal life like everyone else instead of being detached from reality. He told his sister and his aunt that he would stab someone one day, as he had nothing left to lose," Zaki Gabai said on Channel 1.