The Shin Bet will take part in the investigation of Tuesday’s Abu Snan shooting, Israeli media reported on Wednesday.
The shooting left four people, including an Israeli Arab political candidate, dead from gunshot wounds to the head.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir weighed in on crime in the Arab sector in the wake of the deadly shooting. Ben-Gvir stated that large, well-funded, well-organized criminal organizations were behind such violence.
“These are terrorist organizations to all intents and purposes, which are currently directing the assassinations inward towards the Arab sector and the rival gangs,” said the national security minister. Further, “according to the warnings I receive – in a situation of a broad conflict, these militias will turn their fire against the State of Israel.”
He went on to call for the police to be given “additional tools and additional powers,” before declaring there is no other way forward than through the methods he is proposing in order to avert further violence.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir speaks to members of Israel’s Special Patrol Unit in Tel Aviv on August 2, 2023. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/MAARIV)Additionally, he stated that these criminal organizations were responsible for stealing from the budget Israel directs toward the Arab sector.
“These organizations kill each other in order to take over state budgets, and most of the money does not go to the welfare of the Arab citizens of Israel, but to the criminal organizations in Arab society,” he said. “Any turning a blind eye now and postponing the decision means putting the State of Israel at risk.”
Redoubled calls to freeze money headed for the Arab sector
National Missions Minister Orit Struck (Religious Zionist Party) echoed Ben-Gvir’s sentiments and added praise for Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich’s recent efforts to freeze funding to the Arab sector.
“We see before our eyes how right the finance minister is in his demand that the State of Israel neither feed nor support the criminal organizations with money,” Struck said.
“The Arab local authorities reluctantly became the money providers of those criminal organizations through threats and acts of murder,” she added. “This thing has to stop. The Arab citizens will receive the funds and the services, they and not the criminal organizations that terrorize the heads of local government in the Arab sector.”
Criticism of Ben-Gvir’s performance
Conversely, a wave of criticism has been directed at Ben-Gvir from a number of opposition politicians.
“[Ben-Gvir] has failed miserably and become the court jester of the government. If he was in charge, he would have asked to change positions, said National Unity MK Ze’ev Elkin. “All he is interested in is the gimmicks of elections and media.”
Hadash Ta’al MK Aida Touma-Sliman joined in, suggesting that the national security MK has pernicious motivations.
“The government is not addressing the issue,” Touma-Sliman said. “Ben-Gvir wants to control a beaten and frightened Arab population. Our blood will not be a chopper, and we demand that there be a projector for this issue.”
Additionally, opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) released a video on Wednesday blasting the government, saying the “right-wing government experiment failed.”
“The people who danced on the blood and promised to change the equation changed it – for the worse. More terrorism, more murders, less personal security for the citizens of Israel,” he said. “Whoever appointed Ben-Gvir and Smotrich cannot escape responsibility. On Netanyahu’s watch, the state is falling apart. People are murdered every day. We are in an emergency, we cannot continue like this,” Lapid added.
Ben-Gvir, however, was not without allies to come to his defense.
“This is a cynical exploitation of the situation, the identity of the minister is not the issue here,” Likud MK Hanoch Milwidsky retorted in response to Ben-Gvir’s detractors. “The crisis in Arab society vis-à-vis the police is a lack of cooperation for many years.”
President Isaac Herzog also weighed in on the issue in a post on X, formerly Twitter, but decided to avoid placing either blame or praise on the national security minister.
“Every citizen of the Arab society in Israel today lives in terrible fear, heavy grief, and terrible anxieties. Each of the murdered is a world to his family and loved ones,” the president wrote. “This is an emergency that requires decisive measures by the state to eradicate crime and violence, and prevent the loss of life. My condolences to the grieving families from the last few days – from Tira to Abu Snan.”
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