The Shin Bet is set to take on the fight against killings in Israel’s Arab community, which have skyrocketed in recent years amid a proliferation of guns, a rise in organized crime, and a failure of enforcement by police, according to Friday reports.
Channels 12 and 13 report that Shin Bet chief David Zini has agreed to help the overwhelmed police tackle the scourge of Arab murders, subject to government funding, which is expected to stand at around NIS 1 billion ($330 million).
Former Shin Bet head Ronen Bar had resisted the government’s pressure to involve the internal security agency in the fight against deadly Arab crime, warning that its interference in investigations of citizens in criminal matters could be a slippery slope. Zini’s position has been more willing, the reports say.
Channel 13 says a separate division will be formed within the Shin Bet, which will have more intrusive tools than those available to police, including the installation of spyware, wiretapping, and other more aggressive surveillance methods.
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