Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday chaired a meeting of the Ministerial Committee on Arab Sector Affairs at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.
The committee decided to establish a sub-committee, to be chaired by the prime minister, on advancing the fight against crime in Israeli Arab communities, which was authorized to decide on the issue of Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) assistance to the Israel Police in dealing with crime in the Arab sector.
The committee also discussed various other issues, including resolving the problem of mortgages for housing in the Arab sector, studying Hebrew among the Arab population, budgeting for economic projects in employment areas, etc. Netanyahu directed the various ministries to submit draft decisions on these issues to the committee within 45 days.
“We are seeking to reduce the gaps and fully integrate the Arab sector in Israel. We discussed the issues of credit, education, Hebrew, social welfare, legislation and many other matters,” said Netanyahu.
“We also have a special focus on the fight against crime in the Arab sector, which is making life miserable for Israel’s Arab citizens,” he added. “It already borders on a national problem. To this end, we established a sub-committee. Many issues have already begun to be dealt with. We intend to delve deeper into this in the coming days.”
“Government ministers and ministries are joining in to reduce these gaps for the benefit of Israel’s Arab citizens. They deserve it and we must deal with all of these issues,” he said.
As part of Israel’s ongoing efforts to combat violent crime in the Arab sector, the country’s National Security Ministry on Tuesday held a conference of local authorities in Nazareth, which was attended by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
“The Arab public understands that the state’s scourge of crime and murder is not only a problem of the Israeli government but of each of us,” said Ben-Gvir. “We need a strong police force, and we need each and every one in the Arab sector to [reject] the criminality, the bullying and the crime families. In order to eradicate violence, we have added salaries, we have added standards, we are establishing a national guard that can be in places, cities, villages and on the streets and we are also promoting the green-route program which is actually a joint operation for all government ministries,” he added.
