(Jerusalem) Five Israeli Arabs were killed Wednesday in an arson attack in northern Israel, police said, amid rising crime among the country’s Arab minority.
The incident took place in the Bedouin town of Basmat Taboun, in the Haifa region. Three men and two women were shot and died from their injuries, Israeli police said in a statement, saying searches were underway to find the attackers.
A few hours earlier, in the same region, an Israeli Arab was shot and killed while he was in his car, police also announced.
In total, 188 Israeli Arabs have been killed since the start of the year, according to the latest report from the NGO Abraham Initiatives, an Israeli structure working for cohesion between Arab and Jewish citizens in Israel.
“The Prime Minister must dismiss the Minister of Public Security and immediately put in place a broad plan to stem crime in Arab society, this is an emergency situation,” says the NGO in a press release.
Paragon of the Israeli far right, Itamar Ben Gvir, the Minister of National Security, is the subject of criticism for positions taken against minorities.
Arab gangs have accumulated significant quantities of weapons over the past two decades and are involved in activities such as drug, arms and human trafficking, prostitution, extortion, experts say. and money laundering.
Israeli Arabs, descendants of Palestinians who remained on their land when Israel was created in 1948, represent around 20% of the country’s population. They say they are victims of discrimination compared to the Jewish majority and believe that the police and authorities are lax in protecting them and investigating this violence.
At the end of May, elected officials and representatives of this community demonstrated in Jerusalem to ask the government to strengthen security.
On September 7, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened a working group to “advance the fight against crime within Arab society in Israel,” believing that his country was currently waging a “real war.”
“This is one of the most important challenges facing the State of Israel today,” he added.
In October 2021, the Israeli government allocated a budget of around eight billion euros over five years with the aim of improving the socio-economic conditions of the Israeli Arab minority.