Netanyahu attends Knesset committee hearing on violence in Arab society

In a rare visit to a parliamentary committee, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tells the Knesset Committee on Combating Violence in Arab Society that he sees himself as “the prime minister of all citizens of Israel.”

Netanyahu highlights what he characterizes as “a great improvement” in closing gaps between the Jewish and Arab communities in Israel, saying that he has invested far more funding for this purpose than past governments.

The last time Netanyahu participated in a Knesset discussion on combating violence in Arab communities was in 2012. In the past eight years, the number of homicides among Arab Israelis has skyrocketed. Arab Israelis constitute 20 percent of the country’s population, but accounted for 67% of the country’s homicides in 2019, according to the Haaretz daily.

“Let’s place the good intentions on a timescale which will allow for their implementation…and realize all of the potential in this plan,” Committee chairman MK Mansour Abbas (Joint List) says, thanking the prime minister for his attendance.

At the same meeting, Public Security Minister Amir Ohana calls organized crime “the tragedy of Arab society” and pledges to improve policing. Arab Israelis have long contended that police don’t enforce the rule of law in their communities, leaving them without police protection.

— Aaron Boxerman