Minister Of Transport Mulls Revoking License Of Truck Terrorist

Other possible measures under consideration include financial penalties for drivers who commit more than two vehicular homicides per year.

Jerusalem, January 9 – Israeli Minister of Transportation Yisrael Katz is considering a unilateral move to cancel the driver’s license of the man who killed 4 and injured 15 in an automotive terrorist attack yesterday, sources close to the minister have reported.

Aides to Katz disclosed this morning (Monday) that the minister was weighing several options as a suitable response his office could offer to the attack, including the revocation of the license held by the perpetrator, a resident of the Jebel Mukhaber neighborhood of Jerusalem. Such a move, they said, would send a clear message to other would-be terrorists that Israel is serious about its citizens’ and soldiers’ safety and will not tolerate attacks such as yesterday’s.

Fadi Qunbar, 28, was killed by gunfire from other soldiers and at least one armed bystander after ramming into a crowd of soldiers on an educational field trip in the capital’s Armon HaNatziv neighborhood. Qunbar then reversed and backed over those he injured and several who had come to their aid. The revocation, if implemented, will be aimed at reducing the driver’s ability to repeat his crime.

Other possible measures under consideration include a set of infrastructure improvements long demanded by road safety advocates that would have no measurable impact on negligent, dangerous, or malicious driving behavior; financial penalties for drivers who commit more than two vehicular homicides per year; and placing even more obstacles in the path of immigrants already holding drivers’ licenses from abroad who wish to convert those licenses to Israeli. The latter measure bears little relation to yesterday’s attack, but it automatically enters every discussion in the ministry.

An aide who spoke on condition of anonymity cautioned that the revocation might not take place, as it might be perceived as racist. “Societal norms dictate that drivers, especially those who belong to an ethnic minority, cannot be held fully responsible for their actions,” he explained. “That’s why whenever some fatal crash occurs, all the experts and politicians pontificating on the subject decry the sad state of road infrastructure, as if that will prevent speeding, drunk driving, drag racing, texting while driving, or just being a menace on the road – but Lord help them if they even imply there are cultural factors behind the disproportionately high number of Arabs involved in fatal crashes.”

“As far as that mentality is concerned,” continued the aide, “the behavior of the driver in yesterday’s attack is just the way a certain demographic drives, and it’s racist to describe it as negative.”

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