Man shot dead in Jaffa in a suspected murder

A man aged around 40 was shot dead in Jaffa Friday night, in a suspected murder.

Muhammad Dib was critically wounded in the shooting in the city’s south and died a few hours later in Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center.

Police arrested two suspects in the crime.

Arab communities in Israel have seen a surge in violence in recent years, driven mainly, but not exclusively, by organized crime. Arab Israelis blame 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 Arab community has also suffered from decades of neglect.

The Abraham Initiatives, which monitors and campaigns against violence in the Arab community, said there were 125 Arabs — an all-time record — killed in Israel in 2021 as a result of violence and crime.

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Public Security Minister Omer Barlev have vowed to crack down on the violence as well as illegal weapons.