At son’s funeral, former mayor of Rahat says Arab citizens can’t wait for state to solve crime wave

After his son was shot dead this morning, the former mayor of Rahat says Arab society must act against violent crime without waiting for the government to stem the crisis.

At around 2 a.m, Atta Abu Mdeighem’s son Mukhtar was shot to death while driving in the city. According to the bereaved father, his son’s business was targeted in a shooting four months ago but the perpetrators were never caught.

Speaking at the 22-year-old’s funeral, Abu Mdeighem laments that five Arab citizens had been killed in shootings across the country within the previous 12 hours. “I don’t know what this number will be by the end of the day,” he says.

Eulogizing his slain son, the mourning father says the young man “was dear, he ran a kiosk, he had plans. He wanted to continue studying and get married. But the boy is gone.”

Abu Mdeighem urges the state to “wake up” but adds, “We, in Arab society must also deal with crime. We need to solve it ourselves and not wait around for the government to do it all.”

He confesses his lack of faith in law enforcement, comparing police’s failure to solve most murders in Arab society to security agencies’ success in catching hostile actors abroad.

“The government will act when it wants to, because if they want someone from Iran, they go and catch him like a mouse, dragging him by the tail. But criminals here? They need to expand, they need resources,” he says with scorn, seeming to insinuate that police are not doing all they can to deter crime in the Arab sector.

“The state and this government want Arabs to continue murdering. I have no faith in this government. I have no faith in the prime minister and have no faith in this awful police minister,” he says, referring to National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.