Day 5 of the Hunt for Benny Sela

Benny Sela is a serial rapist convicted of raping 14 women in 1999. On Friday he escaped the custody of his guards outside of the Tel Aviv courthouse, awaiting a fake hearing that he had fabricated. Since then, there have been over 2000 police officers looking for him by air, foot, with dogs and high tech machinery. His picture has been strewn across the papers and television screens and over 400 people have called the police hotline with apparent spottings.

Living in a country the size of New Jersey, when something like this happens, the entire country is on alert. Yesterday he was spotted riding a bicycle through a field 1 hour north of Tel Aviv and today he could be anywhere. Pepper spray has been a hot selling item over the past few days and women everywhere are on high alert.

When you live in a place that is characterized by issues of religious conflict and terrorism you forget that it also has the more mundane issues to deal with, like serial rapists on the loose. And yet, it still manages to survive.