A meeting of Israeli government ministers to discuss fighting crime and violence in the Arab sector has decided to focus on the issue of illegal weapons, which will be handled in coordination with the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security agency. In addition, the ministers agreed at Sunday’s meeting that the Justice Ministry will advance a series of laws that will provide the various enforcement agencies with additional tools, including minimum sentence legislation for possessing and trafficking in weapons.
A task force headed by Deputy Public Security Minister Yoav Segalovitz, a retired police major-general, presented a working plan under which coordinated staff work will be carried out in cooperation with all relevant ministries and agencies including the Israel Police, the Shin Bet, the National Security Council, the Attorney General, the State Attorney, the Tax Authority, the Israel Money Laundering Prohibition Authority and others.
“The situation regarding violence in the Arab sector has reached the red line. The problem was pushed aside and neglected for years until it reached outrageous proportions, as we have seen over the past year,” Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said at the start of the meeting. “It is important to mention, also following the attack on police officers in Kafr Qasim over the weekend, that I expect the Arab public – elected representatives, Arab public figures, media personalities from the Arab sector and others – to stand behind the police and the security forces. And yes, the entire Arab public needs to stand behind the state,” Bennett also said, referring to the Friday morning attack on Israel Police officers responding to a call in the Arab town.