As murders in Israel’s Arab community continue to rise, and the government debates more investment into police or even the involvement of the Shin Bet, there have been few arrests and indictments of the murderers, according to the Abraham Initiatives.
Some 102 people have lost their lives in criminal violence in 2023, the Initiatives told The Jerusalem Post. There were 32 arrests made in connection to these murders, leading to 12 indictments.
In 2022, during the same period, there were only 38 murders, three arrests and eight indictments. The vast majority of the deaths were caused by firearms.
State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman said on Monday that he was losing sleep over the problem and that a new audit would be done on the effectiveness of the government against the rising violence.
“For a long time, we have been warning about serious deficiencies in the treatment of violence in the Arab community,” said Englman. “In 2021, we published a comprehensive report on the police’s work on weapons and shooting incidents in the Arab communities. Even then, the report revealed extremely worrying findings.”
Former Israeli MK Mohammed Barakeh and members of the Arab community hold a press conference in a protest tent they set up outside of the office of the Prime Minister in Jerusalem, protesting against the violence in their community May 31, 2023 (credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)Englman said the report found that 94% of Israeli shooting incidents occurred in Arab society, and only 5% of shootings saw indictments filed.
Israel Police seizing more illegal weaponry
In 2019, only 19 weapons were seized by the police – a number that is dwarfed by weapons seized in police raids in 2023. The Northern District Police said last Monday that it had seized 340 illegal weapons since the year began.
Englman said that in May, his office had issued a report indicating that 29% of Israeli Arabs weren’t economically active and that this could lead to increased involvement in crime. The Abraham Initiative figures from 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 indicates that the vast majority of the victims were men aged 30 years or younger.
“I call on the prime minister and the national security minister to act to correct the deficiencies that emerged in the State Comptroller’s reports regarding stopping crime in the Arab community,” he said.
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