Herzog to hold emergency meeting on Negev crime with local Jewish, Arab leaders

By Lazar Berman

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7 January 2026, 10:53 am

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Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

President Isaac Herzog speaks during a conference at Givat Haviva, January 6, 2026. (Tal Gal/Flash90)

President Isaac Herzog will convene an emergency meeting with Bedouin and Jewish regional council heads from southern Israel this afternoon “in light of the emergency situation of violence and crime in Arab society,” his office says in a statement.

The El Kassum Regional Council filed a petition to the High Court of Justice against an ongoing police operation, dubbed “New Order,” in the Bedouin town of Tarabin al-Sana in the Negev desert. Muhammad Hussein Tarabin, a town resident, was allegedly shot dead by an officer at the entrance to his home on Saturday night during a police raid.

Just in the past 24 hours, four more Arab men have been shot dead in Israel in violent crimes.