Israel cracks down on hidden mafia crime wave
As the moped slowed down next to Fouad Mari’s shop in northern Israel, one of its riders drew a pistol from his belt and took aim. Fouad dashed into the shop as a stray bullet punched into a container of plastic water bottles, spraying liquid across the pavements.
But it was not enough.
“They shot him in the legs, then they came back and shot him again,” his mother, Tova Mari, said as she played back CCTV footage of the murder on her phone.
Fouad, 26, was the latest victim of a brutal crime wave tearing through Israel’s Arab communities, which has left more than 90 people dead this year.
The killings often centre on personal feuds and disputes over protection rackets and drug trafficking in a growing underworld that has terrorised Arab citizens of Israel.
Israel has repeatedly faced accusations of turning a blind eye to the crime wave, as it overwhelmingly affects the country’s Arab minority.
Yet in recent months, the number of killings and pressure from an Arab-Israeli party inside the government has forced Naftali
‘These criminals know they can commit crimes with no punishment. [Israelis] don’t care what is happening in Arab society’
Bennett, the prime minister, to take action.
Mr Bennett has admitted that “years of neglect” had allowed the problem to spiral out of control. In response, he recently announced plans for a specialised crime unit and 1,100 more police officers to protect Arab communities.
But Arab activists say the government must first address more fundamental issues surrounding anti-Arab discrimination and the wider Israeli-Palestinian conflict if it hopes to stop the killings.
Despite making up a fifth of the population, 60 per cent of crimes in Israel involve the Arab community. As the casualty rate continues to climb, it has become a tense political issue.
Mr Bennett leads a fragile coalition propped up by an Arab-Israeli party, Ra’am, which put crime in Arab communities at the top of its manifesto at the last election.
A group of bereaved mothers, including Fouad’Ms Mari, have set up a campaign group called Mothers for Life to heap pressure on the Israeli government to take urgent action.
Ms Mari suspects that the killing of her son was linked to a dispute over a romantic relationship, but the legal investigation is ongoing with two suspects under house arrest.
The Sunday Telegraph visited another member of Mothers for Life, Ayesha Abu al-Rub, whose son Fadi was gunned down by a masked gang last October while he worked at a car wash. “I received a phone call and was told, your son was shot. When I arrived he was already dead,” Ms Abu al-Rub said. “I am divorced – he was like a father to his siblings, he was everything to them.”
In her living room, several portraits of Fadi, 27, are hanging on the walls and placed on mantelpieces, which show a muscular, confident young man staring straight into the camera.
“He never had any problems in the past, he was not involved in anything. He used to wash cars – that was his job,” Ms Abu al-Rub said.
“I don’t know anything about why they killed my son, that is a job for the police.”
Maisam Jaljuli, a co-leader of Mothers for Life, said that the underlying causes of the crime wave were complex, but pointed to two key factors – anti-Arab discrimination and poverty.
“These criminals, these organisations know that they can commit crimes with no punishment. Nobody wants to investigate it, [Israelis] don’t care what is happening in Arab society,” Ms Jaljuli said.
According to Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, recent statistics show that police solved only 23 per cent of murders in Arab communities, compared with 71 per cent in Jewish communities.
The Israeli police service was approached for comment but no response has been received.
The disparity in resolving crimes may be linked to reluctance in Arab communities to testify in Israeli courts, for fear of reprisals from gang members. Israeli police officers have also said that they struggle with distrust and a lack of cooperation in Arab communities.
Another source of tension is Israel’s nation state law, which declares that only Jews have the right to selfdetermination in Israel.
The law, passed in 2018, has deepened a perception in Arab communities in Israel that they are treated like second class citizens. Israel insists all of its citizens benefit from the same legal rights.
Arab gangs are by no means the only criminal groups operating in Israel.
Last month, police arrested Michael Tansky, the alleged head of the country’s Russian mafia, after a member of his inner circle became an informant.
His lawyer is said to have denied charges, which include kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking.
Mothers for Life recently held a meeting with Omer Bar-Lev, the Israeli internal security minister, where they called for tougher sentences against young gang members.
But no new policies will be able to bring back Fouad and Fadi, a keen weightlifter who might have gone on to enjoy a career in boxing.
“Right now, it’s happening to the Arab community, but in the future it could be the Jewish community,” said Ms Abu al-Rub, Fadi’s mother.
“The police are sleeping – they need to get into this now.”