Gunfire pierces the air as Ra’am’s Segalovich speaks to locals in Rahat

Gunfire was heard on Sunday evening in the southern Bedouin city of Rahat as the Ra’am party’s Jewish candidate Yoav Segalovitz spoke to locals, apparently part of a conflict between rival gangs.

In footage of his talk, Segalovitz was mid-sentence when gunfire was heard nearby, causing him to look in the direction of the noise, but then continue speaking.

“What you asked before, how can you deal with that?” Segalovitz, a former top police officer who has campaigned on restoring security to the Arab public amid soaring violent crime, later told those present, gesturing toward where he heard the gunfire. “It’s something that cannot be allowed in a proper country. It cannot be allowed, full stop.

“Will change happen in one day? I’m already telling you, no. Even if tomorrow I am the internal security minister, you won’t hear me make any declarations. But the state will work differently, and the government will work differently,” he said.

In a statement afterward, Segalovitz said, “The inconceivable thing is that here in the city, this has almost become routine. Just yesterday, bursts of gunfire were heard continuously for eight hours. Something like this must not become routine. This is a serious failure by the government, which has abandoned citizens’ personal security.”

The city is a hotspot for the rampant crime crisis plaguing the country’s Arab community. Residents of nearby Negev communities have also complained of hearing bursts of gunfire and expressing fear that authorities have lost control over the area.

שימו לב לזה, הערב ברהט: ירי בלתי פוסק במהלך חוג בית שקיים יואב סגלוביץ (רע״מ) בעיר. סגלוביץ שהיה פרוייקטור המגזר הערבי בממשלת בנט, המשיך לדבר תוך כדי הירי pic.twitter.com/ogaW51PiK0

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A report published earlier this year by State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman warned that effective governance has broken down in the Negev, especially in Bedouin towns, as police stations lack the necessary manpower to fight crime.

Segalovitz is the founder and commander of Israel’s Lahav 433 elite police unit responsible for investigating high-level government corruption and organized crime. He served as deputy public security minister in the 2021–2022 Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid government, tasked with leading the crackdown on crime in the Arab community.

His efforts helped bring about a modest but measurable decline in homicides in 2021, reversing a trend that had been moving steadily upwards since 2014.

But under current National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right politician who scrapped Segalovitz’s program, killings in Arab communities have surged to record levels.

In August, Segalovitz announced he was joining Mansour Abbas’ Islamist Ra’am party, in an unprecedented move for a Jewish politician.

AFP contributed to this report.