Five killed in 48 hours amid rampant Arab sector crime wave
Houses set aflame in Bedouin village after police fatally shoot resident; 61-year-old man murdered in Shfaram, just two years after his son was killed in similar incident
Five Arab Israelis were killed within 48 hours amid an unrelenting violent crime wave that continues to beset Arab communities across the country.
The recent spate of killings claimed the lives of two brothers, a 61-year-old man and two men in their 20s from a southern Bedouin village, one of whom was killed in a shootout with police.
Frequent police raids have failed to curb the spiraling murder rate in Arab society. In several cases, the raids have sparked clashes, as in the incidents that occurred Wednesday night, when residents of the Bedouin town Ararat an-Naqab, also known as Arara Banegev, rioted after a resident was shot dead by officers.
An officer responding to a shootout between rival clans shot and killed Wahib Abdelqader Abu Arar. Residents then torched houses and a school, causing widespread panic in the Negev village.
Later, at around midnight on Wednesday, another man was shot dead in the town by unknown assailants as he tried to extinguish fires engulfing a house. The 27-year-old victim, named Imad Suleiman Abu Arar, was taken to Soroka Hospital but died of his wounds. The shooting lightly injured one other person.
Police said in a statement that they approached Abu Arar after he was critically wounded by their gunfire and seized an M16 and pistol from him before paramedics took him to a nearby medical clinic.
The next day, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir praised the policeman who had fatally shot Abu Arar and called for his promotion.
“I salute the heroic officer who acted with determination and professionalism,” tweeted the far-right minister. “As befits a hero, I requested to review the officer’s promotion. Such an officer deserves to progress and serve as an example and inspiration to his subordinates.”
مراسل الجرمق | إحراق منازل خلال الشجار العنيف الذي اندلع في عرعرة النقب. pic.twitter.com/eNgasoyAqn
— الجرمق الإخباري (@aljarmaqnet) April 9, 2025
Israel Police chief Daniel Levy visited the town Thursday morning and also threw his support behind the police officers who he said, “acted decisively” last night and asserted that “this is how police officers are expected to act.”
On Tuesday night, preceding the chaos, police conducted a similar operation in Ararat an-Naqab, where they arrested four people suspected of shooting at officers earlier that day.
On Thursday, brothers Matin and Jamal al-Shmali were killed in a shooting incident near an elementary school in the Jawarish neighborhood of Ramle, a city in central Israel.
The siblings were found Thursday morning wounded in a car by paramedics, who shuttled them to Shamir Hospital. They were later pronounced dead by medical staff.
The victims reportedly had two other brothers who were killed in previous shootings in 2019 and 2020. All three incidents are thought to be related to a bloody conflict between their family and the powerful Jarushi crime clan.
After opening an investigation into the double homicide, police arrested three Ramle residents suspected of involvement in the crime.
On Friday morning, 61-year-old Khaled Sawaed was fatally shot in his car while setting out for work in the northern city of Shfaram.
According to local Arab media, the victim’s 27-year-old son, Raslan Sawaed, had been killed in a similar incident two years prior.
The vast majority of Arab sector murder cases are left unsolved by law enforcement, with many community leaders criticizing police for not doing enough to deter violent crime in Arab locales.
Since the start of the year, 69 Arab Israelis have been killed in violent criminal incidents, indicating that the sharp spike in the Arab homicide rate seen under Ben Gvir has far from subsided.
The Times of Israel Community.