A young Bedouin was killed on Saturday morning in southern Israel, becoming the 100th victim of a rising wave of crime in Israel’s Arab community since the beginning of the year and the eighth in the past two days.
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According to The Times of Israel, a 21-year-old youth was mortally wounded in a fight with foreign workers near the southern city of Ofakim. The publication notes, citing the police, that the young man was apparently part of a group of people who tried to steal agricultural equipment. The police have already detained two suspects in the murder and are investigating the incident as a criminal incident.
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Today’s killing was the fifteenth in the Arab community of Israel since the beginning of the month. On Friday, a 15-year-old girl was killed in a gunfight at the entrance to the Arab village of Yarka in northern Israel, and on Thursday five people were killed in a shooting in the Arab village of Yafia, near the city of Nazareth, also in the north of the country.
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The aggravation of the criminal situation in the Arab sector of Israel was recently commented by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, promising to strengthen the police squads with members of the General Security Service (SHABAK) and achieve an early result in reducing crime among the Arab population of the country. In the first half of 2023, the number of murders in Israel’s Arab community has tripled compared to the same period last year.
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On Friday, a massive Arab protest took place near Nazareth against the rise in crime in the Arab community. The protesters accused the government of inaction and called for immediate action to combat crime. Six former Israeli police chiefs and more than three dozen deputies signed a letter to Prime Minister Netanyahu calling for the removal of far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir as national security minister, warning that he poses a “tangible and immediate” threat to the security of the State of Israel.
