Shas’s Arab outreach coordinator stabbed in Arab village

A Shas party activist responsible for the party’s outreach to the Arab community was lightly wounded Sunday night from being stabbed four times after leaving an elections parlor meeting in the Galilee village of Ein Mahal.

Police said the suspect in the attack is a resident of the Arab village, but that the motive for the attack is still under investigation.

The victim, Michael Illouz, is in his 50s, a resident of the Krayot area near Haifa.

“Father really fought with him,” Illouz’s son Yechiel told the NRG news site. “He tried to stab him in the chest again and again. He suffered cuts to his hands and is now receiving medical care at [Haifa’s] Rambam Hospital.”

Shas chairman Aryeh Deri called on Police Commissioner Yochanan Danino “to do everything possible in order to arrest the attacker. It’s unacceptable that in a democratic state violence will be allowed to decide an election.”

Shas, though a Jewish ultra-Orthodox party, has drawn considerable numbers of votes from Arab Israelis in the past. Its support for increased child subsidies for large families, who make up a significant part of its constituency, has helped channel significant welfare funds to Arab Israeli families and communities over the years.