The Shin Bet is reportedly warning government officials that the rise in violent crime in Arab society has the potential to ignite a wave of internecine violence far worse than the riots that swept across mixed cities on the backdrop of the 2021 Gaza offensive.
“The rise in crime within the Arab community is reaching the level of a security threat that endangers the democratic regime, and this requires greater involvement from the Shin Bet,” a senior official in the agency said during a government discussion on the matter, according to the Kan public broadcaster.
Earlier this month, Shin Bet officials reportedly urged politicians to treat the proliferation of illegal arms in Arab society as a national security threat that must be dealt with immediately, after its research division issued a report on the matter.
Over the past day, three Arab Israelis have been killed in three separate shootings in the northern Arab towns of Tamra, Arara and Kafr Kanna, in an unabating crime wave which has claimed 98 lives since the start of 2025.
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