Man shot dead, another wounded in northern town of Umm al-Fahm
Violent crime wave in Arab community continues into 2024, after last year saw record number of fatalities
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A man in his 40s was shot dead in the northern town of Umm al-Fahm on Monday, according to police and first responders, amid an ongoing wave of crime in the Arab-Israeli community.
A statement from police said they were called to the scene after reports of a shooting at a car that wounded two people, one critically and the other lightly.
Police later said that medical officials declared the critically wounded man’s death at the scene.
Police officers were combing the scene and opened an investigation into the incident, the statement added.
No further details were immediately available.
More Arabs were killed in violent crimes in 2023 than in any previous year in Israeli history, according to a year-end report published by the Abraham Initiatives, a coexistence organization that tracks crime statistics.
According to the report, 244 members of the Arab community were killed in Israel in violent circumstances in 2023, over twice as many as the previous year.
Many Arab Israeli community leaders put the blame on the police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence, which includes family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against women.
The communities have also suffered from years of neglect by state authorities. More than half of Arab Israelis live below the poverty line, and their cities and towns often have crumbling infrastructure and poor public services.
Authorities have blamed burgeoning organized crime and the proliferation of weaponry, while some have pointed to a failure by communities to cooperate with law enforcement to root out criminals.
The Times of Israel Community.