Smotrich says Ben Gvir and police ‘have completely failed’ to curb crime among Arabs
‘We must be united and not be dragged into personal attacks,’ police minister responds, decrying ‘attacks from the left and, unfortunately, also from our partners’
Sam Sokol is the Times of Israel's political correspondent. He was previously a reporter for the Jerusalem Post, Jewish Telegraphic Agency and Haaretz. He is the author of "Putin’s Hybrid War and the Jews"
National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir called on former electoral ally Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to refrain from personal attacks on Sunday, after his fellow far-right cabinet member accused him of failing to curb violence in the Arab Israeli community.
Addressing a conference co-sponsored by the national-religious Makor Rishon newspaper and the Jerusalem College of Technology, Smotrich claimed that Iran is attempting to destabilize Israel by pouring “hundreds of thousands of illegal weapons” into Arab communities and that the authorities are “far from doing what is necessary to neutralize this risk ahead of time.”
“In this matter, the police and the one who is entrusted with this have completely failed,” he asserted, arguing that the issue “is not solved by weapons for the security squads” overseen by the government, Ben Gvir’s signature policy move.
Civilian security squads are composed of volunteers and typically provide enhanced security to small towns and communities in border towns and the West Bank settlements, where the police have a lighter presence. Israel established hundreds of additional civilian security squads in the weeks following October 7.
Ben Gvir, head of the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, announced three days after the Hamas invasion that his ministry had purchased 10,000 assault rifles for distribution to these squads to bolster public security in the face of the heightened terrorist threat, including from Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“When all of our children are united at the front, we must be united and not be dragged into personal attacks,” Ben Gvir responded to Smotrich in a statement. “The left are rubbing their hands together in glee because of the finance minister’s words.”
“Despite the attacks from the left and, unfortunately, also from our partners, we will continue with the project of the security squads” and the distribution of weapons to civilians, he said — referring to the approval of over 100,000 gun licenses since October 7.
Allies fall out
Ben Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit and Smotrich’s Religious Zionism ran together in the 2022 Knesset elections after then-opposition chief Benjamin Netanyahu brokered a merger agreement between the two parties.
The unified far-right faction split up into its constituent parties following the election, with Religious Zionism holding seven parliamentary seats and Otzma Yehudit six.
Recent polling shows that Ben Gvir remains popular and could win up to eight seats if elections were held today, while Smotrich’s Religious Zionism is in danger of failing to clear the minimum vote threshold necessary to remain in the Knesset.
Arab crime
Crime in the Arab community has skyrocketed in recent years, with more Arabs killed in homicides in 2023 than in any previous year, according to a report by the Abraham Initiatives, a coexistence organization that tracks crime statistics.
Many community leaders blame the police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence. They also point to decades of neglect and discrimination by government offices as the root cause of the problem.
The Abraham Initiatives placed responsibility for the sharp uptick in homicides on Ben Gvir, whose ministry is responsible for policing and who was elected on a platform of the need to improve personal security.
The vast majority of homicides — some 88 percent — were the result of shooting, highlighting the problem of the proliferation of illegal firearms in Arab society, the organization said, adding that police only solved 23 of the murder cases, or some 10.5%, down from 21% in 2022 and 19% in 2021.
Last September, State Comptroller Matanyahu Englman dismissed the government’s response to surging criminal violence in Arab Israeli towns as inadequate, calling the increase “a resounding failure of Israeli governments.”
“The prime minister, national security minister and all ministers must act to eradicate crime in Arab society,” he said at the time.
No to a Palestinian state
Aside from criticizing Ben Gvir, Smotrich also defended the government’s decision to legalize several West Bank outposts and impose a series of sanctions against the Palestinian Authority, saying that he was acting to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, which would pose “an immediate, existential danger to the State of Israel.”
“The Iranian regime has an orderly plan for the conventional destruction of the State of Israel,” he said, asserting that a Palestinian state in the West Bank would “multiply Gaza 20 times and place it in an area that topographically and geographically dominates the entire State of Israel.
“And unfortunately and absurdly, even today, after October 7 and after the Iranian plan is known, there are those who strive for this collective suicide with all their might,” he continued, complaining about left-wing and media criticism of the cabinet’s decision to take steps against Ramallah.
“The Arabs of the West Bank can, God forbid, turn Kfar Saba into Kfar Aza, Ra’anana into Be’eri, Netanya into Nahal Oz and Tel Aviv into Sderot within hours,” Smotrich added, slamming politicians like Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot, who he claimed are pushing for the return of the Palestinian Authority to the Gaza Strip.
Times of Israel staff and Jeremy Sharon contributed to this report.
