Wave of Arab-Israeli Homicides Continues, 3 Murdered in Past Day

Jerusalem, 17 December, 2023 (TPS) -- An unprecedented wave of murders in Israel’s Arab sector continued with three homicides since Saturday afternoon and a fourth death under circumstances that weren’t immediately clear.

Adham Abbas, 35, was shot and killed in the Arab town of Jadeidi-Makr, near Akko on Saturday afternoon.

Hacham Alaesam, 29, was gunned down in Tel Sheva, a Bedouin town near Beersheva. Alaesam died of his injuries at Beersheva’s Soroka Medical Center on Sunday morning. Police believe the shooting stemmed from a conflict between rival crime families.

On Saturday night, the body of Naamam Abu Jama was found with gunshot wounds in a truck parking lot in Ar’ara, an Arab town near Haifa. Magen David Adom responders declared Abu Jama dead at the scene.

Also on Saturday night, an unidentified man’s body was pulled from burning a car in the Arab town of Taybe. The town is within an area south of Haifa with a concentration of Arab municipalities often referred to as the “Arab Triangle.” The cause of the incident wasn’t immediately clear.

Police are investigating all four deaths.

According to the Abraham Initiative, a Jewish-Arab organization which promotes Arab integration into Israel society, at least 226 Arab-Israelis have been killed in criminal violence since the beginning of 2023. For comparison, 116 Arab-Israelis were murdered in 2022.

This year’s spike in violence is attributed to organized crime groups fighting turf battles and trying to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, trafficking in weapons, drugs and women.

Local leaders have called on the government to take action.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supported giving the Shin Bet security agency a more active role in fighting the rising crime, but this suggestion was opposed by both Arab leaders and Shin Bet officials.

Although there has been a drop in Arab sector crime during the two months since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacres and the war in Gaza, the wave of killings has slowed, but not abated.

In November, Israeli security forces seized 137 guns in the largest weapons smuggling bust from Jordan. Police believe the weapons were destined for Arab criminal groups.