Violence in the Israeli Arab community continues to rise despite a number of campaigns that were launched by Arab masses last year against crime and Israeli police’s plan to confront the spread of violence.
Two men were killed in separate overnight incidents in two different areas, according to the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation (Kan).
Yousef Abu Sata, 25, was shot dead in the southern town of Rahat, and Ahmad Jamal, 27, was shot dead during a fight as part of an extended dispute between families in Kabul village.
The killings came few hours after Fahmi Hinawi was killed in Lod and Mohammad Badran in Jatt village in the Triangle area of Haifa District.
The crimes took place during armed clashes during which houses were torched and a number of casualties were reported in some Arab villages and areas.
The killing of these four men raised the crimes victims’ tally to 98, including 18 women, since the beginning of 2020, according to data received from the Aman Center (the Arab Center for a Safe Society).
Saturday’s crimes have shed light on the unprecedented spread of violence in the Israeli Arab community.
Israeli media has reported that the Arab community continues to plunge into violence. However, community leaders accuse the Israeli government of failing to confront the crimes.
Arabs have been urging the Israeli government to boost security in the Arab regions to prevent the spread of crime instead of inciting against the Arab community and its culture.
Arab MK Ahmad Tibi slammed the government last week and said a country whose prime minister boasts about killing a nuclear scientist in central Tehran is not capable of arresting a fugitive who killed his wife in Israel.
Former MK Talab El-Sana also verbally attacked the government in an article that was published in Maariv newspaper and stressed that whoever can put his hands on senior Hamas member Mahmoud Al-Mabhouh in Dubai is capable of finding the killers in Rahat and Nazareth.
However, officials in Israel accuse the Arab community of being characterized by a culture of violence and that its members don’t cooperate with the police.
