Public security minister blames Arab MKs for not doing enough to combat crime • Arab Israelis implicated in over half of the murders, attempted murders, arsons in Israel, study finds • Number of Arab Muslim police officers almost doubles in 2017.
Arab Israelis are “prominently involved” in violent crimes and in drug trafficking, Israel Police Commissioner Roni Alsheikh said Sunday, while presenting a new study to lawmakers.
According to the data, although Arab Israelis make up 21% of the population, their involvement in serious crimes is double or more that figure: Police statistics for 2017 show that Arab Israelis are involved in 57% of murder cases, 55% of attempted murder cases, and 59% of arson cases.
The statistics also show Arab Israelis are involved in 45% of all theft cases, in 36% of all property crimes, and are implicated in 26% of drug trafficking cases.
In 2016, the statistics showed that Arab Israelis were involved in 63% of murder cases, 57% of arson cases, 48% of theft cases, 36% of property crimes and 22% of drug-related crimes.
At the time of his appointment, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan demanded that 2 billion shekels ($568 million) be allocated for law enforcement in the Arab sector. The funds were earmarked to reinforce policing services in the sector, establish police stations and boost the recruitment of Muslims into the police force. Still, many police initiatives had to be suspended over the Arab sector’s lack of cooperation.
Erdan on Monday blamed Arab lawmakers for failing to use their influence to help law enforcement efforts in the sector.
“Let’s be honest, you are the first ones who should be doing some soul-searching over the lack of law enforcement in the Arab community,” he said.
The police prepared a five-year plan to establish 17 police stations and centers in Arab communities. So far, two stations are under construction: in Kafr Manda near Nazareth and in Jisr Az-Zarqa, a particularly problematic community on the northern coast. Two contracts have been signed to build other police stations in the upper Galilee communities of Tamra and Majd El-Kurum.
Against this, the police have encountered some resistance by residents and regional council members to establishing police stations in existing structures. In addition, the police said a recent campaign to collect illegal weapons in the Arab sector was essentially a “failure,” as very few weapons were turned in, even though owners were guaranteed immunity from prosecution.
However, Alsheikh did have some good news for lawmakers on the efforts to reinforce policing efforts, headed by Maj. Gen. Jamal Hakroush, the first Muslim Arab to hold this rank in the Israel Police. According to statistics, 130 Muslim Arabs joined the police in 2017, as opposed to 70 in 2016. This year, 708 more Muslims are in the process of joining the police.
Additionally, the data showed that in 2016, the number of overall criminal cases dropped to 329,823, as opposed to 446,689 in 2007.
Sources in the police said this drop did not necessarily reflect an improvement, but may reflect the fact that the public has lost faith in the police and therefore files fewer complaints.
There’s no way Israel’s population has increased and the number of [criminal] cases has decreased,” one official told Israel Hayom.
The report also says there are nine declared criminal organizations in Israel today. Five of the crime families’ heads are currently in prison or live abroad, 11 senior operatives in criminal organizations are imprisoned or abroad, and over 200 criminals with ties to these organizations are in prison. However, only two indictments were filed in 2017 under the Combating Criminal Organizations Law.
more punishment will result in less crime. maybe consider prisons in remote African countries, possibly resulting in less collaboration with other terrorists at a lesser cost to incarcerate per prisoner.
@ Edgar G.:
I meant to also add that the extra 7-800 Arab police being formed, will show also in statistics as police corruption, graft, money laundering and other assorted crimes increase dramatically, once they make the “right” contacts and “find their feet”…
The recent amnesty to hand in weapons resulted in 3, yes THREE weapons being turned in, from population of over 2 million.
We see now that the Israelis Arabs, are NOT the mild, normal section of the population that, by implication and statements, it has always been represented to be. I should say that they are are as lawless, (maybe worse) as their “brothers” in YESHA who were trained by Arafat and his murderous gangsters, now under Boss Abbas and his cronies. Abbas travels around the world in luxury, like all Arab leaders, at no cost to himself, pretending to be a statesman, but really, just another gang boss.
This is the first time I have seen these figures and I never before questioned the supposed orderliness of the Arab Israeli Community, except to remark that they were becoming much more radicalized than in the past, and might become a large unstable minority, difficult to handle; that if citizenship is given to YESHA Arabs as some fools advocate, could topple the State into chaos, similar to the average Arab country..