IDF, Shin Bet join forces to fight high Israeli-Arab crime rate

• Author: LAHAV HARKOV
• Published date: 03 October 2021
• Publication title: Jerusalem Post, The: Web Edition Articles (Israel)

At the end of the meeting, Prime Minister Naftali Bennett approved a plan compiled by task force leader Deputy Public Security Minister Yoav Segalovich, a 30-year veteran of the police.

The task force agreed that the IDF and Shin Bet should focus on illegal weapons. The Justice Ministry plans to advance bills to give the authorities additional tools, such as minimum sentences for possessing and selling weapons illegally.

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The task force decided that no legal change was needed to allow the Shin Bet to work on the issue.

"Violence in Arab society has reached a redline," Bennett warned. "The problem was repressed and neglected until it reached monstrous dimensions, as we saw in the last year."

The prime minister's remarks came a day after the 100th or 95th murder – NGO reports differ – of Israeli Arabs by members of their communities since the beginning of 2021. The victim was Maharan Mougrabi, 40, who was run over and then shot on Friday and succumbed to his wounds on Saturday.

Bennett also cited Thursday's attack on police officers by security workers in Kafr Kassem, which was caught on video and widely disseminated. Two officers were injured while trying to enter City Hall. They were assaulted by members of Al Hirasa, an internal security force in the city, which is affiliated with the Islamic Movement.

In light of the incident, Bennett said that leaders in the...