Shots were fired at the home of the Tamra mayor early Wednesday morning, causing no casualties but damaging the building, the Galilee region police said on Wednesday.
Northern District officers rushed to the scene and began an investigation that led to the arrest of three suspects. After their arrest, gunfire was directed at the municipality building, again causing damage but not casualties.
The shooting comes amid a series of attacks on local Israeli Arab political figures.
Three other political figures have been targetted
Nazareth mayoral candidate Musaab Duchan, his brother, and another person were injured in a shooting on Monday evening. The attack on Duchan was preceded by shots being fired at the candidate’s home, like with Wednesday’s attack.
While in these two cases, the victims survived, other attacks on political figures had ended in deaths.
Police at the scene where four men were shot dead in the Arab Town of Abu Snan, northern Israel, August 22, 2023. (credit: SHIR TOREM/FLASH90)Local Council presidential candidate Ghazi Saab was murdered last Tuesday in Abu Snan along with three other people — two being members of his family. The day before Tira city manager Abed al-Rahman Kashu was murdered in a shooting.
The Hadash-Taal party and other Arab leaders called for the government to take action against a troubling trend in an already surging crime wave in the Arab community. Over 160 people have been killed in Arab sector criminal violence since the beginning of 2023. The rising number has already eclipsed 2022’s casualty count, which saw 106 deaths during the entire year.
Following a subcommittee devoted to discussing the problem was convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Wednesday, a meeting was held Monday night between Justice Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, the Shin Bet chief, Police Chief Kobi Shabtai, and Arab local council representatives on budget allocation to counter the crime wave.
Tens of millions of shekels are set to be budgeted for additional police equipment, and monitoring mechanisms were proposed to ensure that funds would reach citizens and not criminal organizations.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.
Comments are closed.