Man killed in Lod as death toll from violent crime wave in Arab community nears 160

34-year-old dies of wounds in latest shooting, hours after anti-crime mayoral candidate and relatives shot in Nazareth

By ToI Staff 29 August 2023, 3:59 am Edit
Illustrative: Police at the scene of a shooting in the central Arab city of Tira, August 21, 2023. (Israel Police)
Illustrative: Police at the scene of a shooting in the central Arab city of Tira, August 21, 2023. (Israel Police)

A 34-year-old man was shot to death on Monday night in the central city of Lod, bringing to 158 the number of people killed in violent crime in the Arab community so far this year. The grim tally, posted by anti-violence advocacy group the Abraham Initiatives, is more than double the figure for the same period last year.

The circumstances of the killing in Lod were not yet clear but police said the victim was critically injured in the shooting and arrived at the Shamir Medical Center (Assaf Harofeh Hospital) independently where he was pronounced dead.

Police said they have opened an investigation into the suspected homicide.

In a separate incident Monday night, a man in his 20s was moderately injured in a shooting in Fureidis, an Arab town near Zichron Yaakov, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

These incidents came amid an unrelenting violent crime wave in Arab Israeli communities that has increasingly spilled into municipal politics.

Also on Monday night, a candidate for mayor of Nazareth and two other men were shot and injured in the northern city, authorities said.

Musab Dukhan (via Facebook; used in accordance with clause 27a of the copyright law)

Musab Dukhan was brought to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa in stable condition and awake, the hospital said.

Police said the three victims, including Dukhan’s brother and cousin, according to Hebrew media reports, were lightly injured in the attack.

Police said the three were lightly injured and were taken to Haifa’s Holy Family Hospital. Police reportedly suspect the incident was politically motivated.

The shooting in Nazareth was the latest to target local Arab politicians amid a broader crime wave in the community.

Dukhan, a current council member who is running for mayor of the country’s largest Arab city in the October 31 election, was also targeted a month ago with shots fired at his home, although no one was hurt in that incident.

He recently took part in a meeting aimed at acting against the violent crime epidemic gripping the Arab community, saying, “We must protest against the violence and the murder, and not let it pass in silence. We need to be strong and not give up. It isn’t enough to speak. The struggle could give us personal safety.”

Last week, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would involve the Shin Bet security service in assisting police operations in combating some crime in the Arab community, particularly when it came to crime related to municipal elections.

On Sunday, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich agreed to finally release long-awaited funds to Arab municipalities that he had recently frozen over ostensible concerns they would reach criminal gangs, pending the implementation of an oversight mechanism.

Several candidates have been shot in recent weeks in attacks blamed on organized crime.

Benny Gantz, head of the opposition National Unity party, commented on Monday’s incident by calling for the ouster of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right politician who is in charge of police and who campaigned heavily on fighting Arab crime in last year’s general election, only for criminal violence to surge during his term.

“Another difficult evening,” Gantz said. “Children don’t feel safe to walk in the streets, election candidates are threatened and crime is rampant everywhere. In a properly run country, with a prime minister running things, the minister in charge of this failure would have ended his term. But Netanyahu, who depends on extremists, is choosing to let the lawlessness continue. He’s responsible.”

On Sunday morning, a man was shot dead on a northern highway. On Saturday, masked gunmen opened fire on a home in Kafr Kanna, wounding six members of the same family.

In a shocking crime last week, four people were murdered in a mass shooting in the northern town of Abu Snan, one of them a mayoral candidate.

A day earlier, Tira’s city manager, Abdul Rahman Kashua, was shot dead.

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