Tel Aviv streets renamed to protest government inaction in face of terror

“Death Penalty to Terrorists” Street and “The Three Boys” Street are just some of the names the Israel Victory Project picked to show that Israel should change its policy on terrorism.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

Dozens of street names in Tel Aviv were replaced Wednesday night by activists who want the Israeli government to take a stronger stand in the face of terrorism.

Israel Victory Project (IVP) members went to main thoroughfares of the city and slid new names into the lit boxes on the corners. For example, Rothschild Boulevard became “Runs to Bomb Shelters” and Bnei Zion Street became “Incendiary Balloons” street.

The idea was to remind residents in the center of the country what their compatriots in the south have endured for the last year.

Other names were chosen to jog the citizenry’s memory of some of the most heinous terror attacks that Palestinians have perpetrated over recent decades. These included “Dolphinarium Street” (21 killed, 16 of them teenagers, outside a discotheque in 2001), “Sbarro Street” (15 killed, 130 wounded in a Jerusalem pizzeria, also in 2001), and “The Three Boys Street,” in which three teens were kidnapped and murdered in 2014, leading to Operation Protective Edge against Hamas.

Several of the newly named avenues reflected the choice that the activists believe is facing the Israeli government. “Deterrence,” “Death Penalty to Terrorists” and “Victory” Streets vs. “Escalation,” “The Loss” and “Defeat” Streets.

IVP is an initiative begun by the Middle East Forum (MEF) in 2016 “to steer U.S. policy toward backing an Israel victory over the Palestinians to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict,” according to its website.

The organization believes that moving from a posture of conciliation and concessions to defeating Israel’s terrorist adversaries militarily, economically and psychologically is the only way to finally bring peace. It takes as its prime example the total defeat of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan in World War II, which have led to a peace that has held for the last 74 years.

“This protest is the result of deep pain felt by many people across all parts of Israeli society,” said MEF Director Gregg Roman.

“We all remember the difficult terror attacks at the Park Hotel, Bus #5, and the Dolphinarium, and we are all frustrated at round after round [of fighting] which paralyzes the lives of southern residents. We must stop managing the conflict and decide that we are bringing it to an end, from a place of strength and on our terms. That is the only way to end this conflict, and that is our demand of Israel’s future government.”

Just last month, an IVP survey showed that a whopping 82 percent of respondents felt the government was too soft against Hamas, with 49 percent thinking that Israel should eliminate the Gazan terrorist organization.

The verdict was more split regarding the Palestinian Authority, with 49 percent saying the government was too soft and fully 18 percent answering that they didn’t know.