Bennett pledges to address rising murders in Arab communities
Weekend escalation alarms government, police
“On behalf of the Government of Israel, I would like to offer my condolences to the families,” said Prime Minister Naftali Bennett during a cabinet meeting on Sunday, addressing Arab-Israeli victims that were killed during the weekend.
“Since the beginning of the year, dozens of people have been murdered in the Arab sector. Violence in the Arab sector is a coup d’etat that has been neglected for many years. We have a responsibility to fight this. This is a national task.”
Bennett added that he had agreed with the Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev to formulate a plan to combat crime in the Arab sector “as soon as possible.”
Bennett’s comments come following a deadly weekend that included four Arab-Israelis murdered in two separate incidents, sparking demands that the government take action to combat rising crime rates within Arab-Israeli society.
“We will do this in all dimensions: the civil, economic, and of course the criminal dimensions,” added the prime minister. “It is first and foremost a strong desire of the sector itself, and it is of course in the national interest in general.”
“Another heinous murder of a family in Arab society. Another shocking incident of violence. I pledge that we will do everything we can to combat it. We will budget accordingly. We will implement the plan to combat
violence,” said Alternate Prime Minister Yair Lapid. “I know that the public security minister and his deputy see this as part of their main mission. The fight against violence is a national goal.”
“In a matter of days, five Arab citizens were killed, including three women, one of them a 16-year-old. These are incidents where the writing was on the wall: Family disputes are known and recognized by the police, who failed to protect those involved, as happened yesterday,” said the Abraham Initiatives organization on Sunday.
“Instead of giving a proper response and prosecuting the criminals, the families are forced to move to other localities and the cycle of blood only widens,” added the organization.
“This is a systemic failure, both of the police and of the state authorities, which for a long time have not promoted a comprehensive government program to deal with violence and crime in Arab society, even though it has been awaiting approval for about a year. Every day that passes without the issue being brought before the government is a day when the personal security of the Arab citizens remains abandoned.”
The Special Committee for Arab Society, chaired by Ra’am (United Arab List) leader Mansour Abbas, will meet on Wednesday to discuss the effects of the coronavirus crisis on Arab-Israeli society, including a spike in domestic violence.
On Sunday, Jamil Azberga, a resident of Lod, was killed after assailants fired at the truck he was driving in the city, according to Ynet. Salaman Azberga, Jamil’s father, was shot to death in Lod last December.
Hours after Salaman was killed, Omar Abu Saluk was shot to death in a drive-by shooting as he and his family were headed to Kafr Kassem with a police escort. Police believe there may be a connection between Jamil’s killing and Abu Saluk’s killing.
On Saturday, Yousef Jerushi, his wife Nawal and their daughter Rayan were shot to death near the town of Eilabun in the Galilee. Another of their daughter’s was moderately injured in the attack. The Jerushi family moved in the last month from Ramle to Deir Hanna in northern Israel due to concerns that a criminal dispute in their extended family would reach them, according to Ynet.
On Friday, three people were injured in a shooting in Kfar Kassem.
Since the beginning of the year, 48 Arabs have been killed in Israel in incidents related to crime and violence, according to the Abraham Initiatives. Some 113 Arab-Israeli citizens were murdered and hundreds were wounded in 2020, according to advocacy groups. In comparison, 89 Arab citizens were killed in 2019.
In 2019, Arab-Israelis conducted a series of protests and strikes against government and police failures to deal with violence in Arab communities. Similar protests occurred in 2020 as well.
As of April, 2021, there were 1,966,000 Arab citizens of Israel, comprising 21.1% of the population.