Man shot dead in northern village, the 9th killing in Arab community this week
Shooting reportedly a case of mistaken identity, with relative of Mohand Shalabi the intended target; 70 Arabs killed since the beginning of the year, 62 of them by gunfire
A man was shot dead in the northern village of Ein Mahil on Friday, amid a dramatic spike in violent crime that has seen nine people killed in the Arab community this week.
However, it appeared that Mohand Shalabi may have been the unintended victim — according to the Ynet news site, a relative of his, who was in the same area at the time, was the target of an alleged criminal hit.
Paramedics arrived on the scene to find 34-year-old Shalabi unconscious and without vital signs, the Magen David Adom ambulance service said in a statement.
The father-of-one was taken in critical condition to the Italian Hospital in Nazareth and was declared dead by doctors shortly after arrival.
Police said they opened an investigation into the incident.
Nine people from the Arab community have been killed in homicides this week.
According to The Abraham Initiatives, a group that campaigns against violence, there have been 70 Arabs killed in violent circumstances since the beginning of the year. The watchdog said 62 of them were killed by gunfire.
During the same period last year, there were 27 comparable deaths in total.
In addition, on Thursday a 31-year-old man was killed after his motorcycle exploded in Netanya, in a suspected underworld hit.
The deadly blast came a day after five people were killed in a 24-hour span, amid a spike in violent crime that has seen over twice as many people killed in the first four months of 2023 as in the same period last year.
On Thursday, the head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an umbrella group of leaders of the Arab community, slammed state authorities and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for not tackling crime in the community.
“There is quite simply, a situation of lawlessness,” former MK Mohammad Barakeh told the Kan broadcaster. “No one can convince anyone that the police are not able to fight crime and gather the weapons.”
He said that police are aware of who the criminals are but nonetheless do not act against them.
“The country has abandoned the Arab public,” he said and suggested the lack of action is a deliberate political ploy.
He accused Ben Gvir of “inciting against the Arabs” and authorities of having an attitude of “blaming the victim.”
Ben Gvir, the far-right lawmaker in charge of police who campaigned on promises to beef up public safety, has largely stayed quiet on the soaring crimewave, but visited a police station in the southern Bedouin town of Rahat on Thursday, “to listen to the needs of our heroic police officers.”
Hours earlier, demonstrators placed mannequins representing dead bodies outside Ben Gvir’s home in the West Bank settlement of Kiryat Arba, with protesters accusing him of failing to tackle the wave of murders in the Arab community as part of a nationwide “Day of Disruption.”
The sharp jump in killings, the highest number in decades, was seen in both the Jewish and Arab communities, although the numbers are far steeper in the latter.
Many blame the police, which they say has failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignores the violence, which includes family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against women.
