Police chief praises Israel’s Arab citizens for ‘exemplary behavior’ in past two weeks

22 October 2023, 6:50 pm

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Israel Police chief Kobi Shabtai speaks to a meeting of the Knesset National Security Committee on October 22, 2023. (Dani Shem Tov/Knesset)

Israel Police chief Kobi Shabtai says that Israel’s Arab citizens have behaved in an exemplary manner since the start of the war with Hamas in Gaza on October 7.

Shabtai tells a meeting of the Knesset National Security Committee that he must praise the “exemplary behavior” of Israel’s Arab minority, noting that there have been “zero incidents” of internal clashes over the past two weeks.

Shabtai says the police are in contact with local leaders, and are prepared in case the situation changes.

Last week, Shabtai said in a clip uploaded to the police’s Arabic-language TikTok account that if Arab Israelis want to identify with Gaza “I can send you there on a bus.”