For first time since 2022, Arab lawmakers meet with acting national security minister to tackle soaring homicide rates

Lawmakers from the Knesset’s Arab parties met with acting National Security Minister Haim Katz yesterday to discuss rocketing violence in Israel’s Arab communities, the Kan public broadcaster reports.

The meeting was the first of its kind to take place since the November 2022 elections, as Katz’s predecessor Itamar Ben Gvir declined to meet with the lawmakers on the issue. The ultranationalist Otzma Yehudit leader is expected to rejoin the government and take back over the reins of the National Security Ministry following the end of the ceasefire and hostage release deal with Hamas in Gaza.

As such, Ra’am chair Mansour Abbas proposed a series of measures that could be implemented immediately in order to combat violent crime in Arab society, Kan reports, telling Katz that they have “a one-month opportunity” to create change.

According to the report, the measures proposed by the lawmakers include establishing a surveillance system in high-crime areas that would be monitored on a national scale rather than by individual localities, and the regulated use of surveillance technology against known criminal organizations.

Arab mayors who participated in the meeting also requested the government declare tackling crime in the Arab sector a “national goal” and strengthen dialogue and cooperation between the police and local authority heads.

Violent crime rates in the Arab community have soared in recent years, and data released by the Israel Police last month showed that homicide rates doubled in 2023, with a record 244 victims in the Israeli-Arab community.

Last month, violent crime claimed 21 lives, more than double that of the corresponding month last year.