Herzog holds emergency meeting on Arab-Jewish relations in south amid unrest

President Isaac Herzog says that “it’s unthinkable that 11 Arab citizens were murdered this past week,” as violent crime continues to spiral in Arab society.

He is speaking to Jewish and Bedouin council members at the President’s Residence after four Arab Israelis were killed last night, including a 20-year-old medical student in Ararat an-Naqab.

“They deserve to live in security like Jewish citizens in the country,” he says, calling the years-long crime wave in Arab society a “national catastrophe and national challenge.”

But the meeting’s main focus is Jewish-Arab relations in the Negev, which Herzog says have reached a “state of emergency” in recent weeks.

He called the emergency meeting with local politicians amid an ongoing police crackdown on crime in Bedouin society and after the torching of cars in nearby Jewish towns, thought to have come in revenge for law enforcement operations.

On Saturday night, tensions reached a fever pitch in the south after an officer shot and killed 36-year-old Muhammad Hussein Tarabin on his doorstep, an incident that is still being investigated.

Herzog called on investigators to see the probe of the lethal incident to its completion. “I think it’s very important, so that both Bedouin and Jewish citizens know the truth,” he says.

The president says that Jewish and Bedouin residents face the challenge of “living together as children of Abraham in this land.”

“I very much appreciate the Bedouin community. There are bright and smart people here and their contribution to the state is massive,” he says.

He calls on Jewish and Arab politicians to convey a message to residents that “we want to continue to live together and start to change direction.”