Netanyahu: We are at war with Arab criminal gangs, treating them as terror groups

Israel is treating the issue of crime and violence in Arab communities “as a core national challenge,” says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset.

Speaking at a so-called 40-signatures debate called once a month by the opposition, Netanyahu stresses that last week he took Israel’s defense, intelligence and law enforcement leadership to the Negev to gain common first-hand insights into the problem.

“Criminal organizations are terror organizations in every way,” he declares. “That is how we are treating them, and that is how we are dealing with them.”

He says that Israel is in a war against these gangs, pointing at the security forces and new budgets Israel is committing to the challenge, which includes weapons smuggling, protection money and illegal weapons.

“We are determined to bring back law and order to the south,” he says.