Smotrich blames AG, previous government for surging homicide rate in Arab community

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich blames both Attorney General Gali Baharv-Miara and the government led by former prime minister Naftali Bennet and Opposition Leader Yair Lapid in 2021-2022 for the surging violent crime in Arab communities, following yesterday’s shooting of Jadeidi Makr council head Suheil Milhim and deputy mayor Obaid Obaid.

“At a time when crime is rampant, this corrupt system is dealing with foolish investigations,” he says during a Knesset Constitution Committee discussion on splitting the position of the attorney general, vowing to soon “put an end to the dictatorship of the attorney general.”

Smotrich accuses Baharav-Miara without evidence of “covering” for former Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, who leaked footage relating to allegations of IDF reservists severely abusing a Palestinian security detainee at the Sde Teiman detention facility in 2024, which he dismisses as an “antisemitic blood libel,” as well as “persecuting” Shin Bet chief David Zini and nominated Mossad head Roman Gofman, whose candidacy she opposes.

The finance minister also blames the previous government for crime in Arab communities, repeating unsubstantiated claims that funds transferred to Arab municipalities under the previous government reached “crime and terror organizations.”

Opposition lawmakers clash with the finance minister throughout the discussion, with Yesh Atid MK Yoav Segalovitz, a former police major general and deputy public security minister in the previous government, dismissing Smotrich’s remarks as “a pile of nonsense and malice.”

“Let the public not be confused – you did nothing,” Segalovitz says, accusing the government of presiding over a “total collapse” of law enforcement and failing to tackle violent crime in Arab communities.