Acting police chief says some violence among Arab Israelis ‘a matter of culture’

Acting Police Commissioner Motti Cohen tells the Knesset Committee on Combating Violence in Arab Society that some violence among Arab Israelis is “a matter of culture.”

“Arab society, what is its place and its responsibility in relation to this area, the matter of the culture within Arab society,” Cohen says while elucidating reasons for high levels of crime in Arab towns and cities.

Lawmakers from the predominantly Arab Joint List respond angrily to the remark.

“This is not a matter of culture, this is a matter of giving cover to certain organizations… we’re talking about organized crime, illegal weapons, a lack of employment,” says Joint List MK Iman Yassin-Khatib.

This isn’t the first time the debate over the roots of elevated rates of violence in Arab society has used such terms. Former public security sinister Gilad Erdan attributed a the wave of violence in Arab Israeli communities to culture, drawing accusations of racism.

“It’s a very, very — and another thousand times — very violent society,” Erdan told Jerusalem Radio in October 2019. “It’s connected to the culture there.”

— Aaron Boxerman