Yitzhak Wasserlauf, Israel’s minister for the development of the periphery, the Negev and the Galilee, caught a thief in the Shapira neighborhood of southern Tel Aviv on Tuesday.
“An instinct for public responsibility is what led me to react,” Wasserlauf told JNS on Wednesday. “This is a problem that has existed in the neighborhood for as long as I can remember.
“This is the second time I’ve caught these types while serving as a government minister,” he added. “My message to residents is to remain vigilant and report any such suspects to the police.”
According to Israel’s Maariv daily, the right-wing minister was visiting the southern Tel Aviv area—where he lived until moving to the city’s north in 2023—when he heard the alarm of an electric scooter.
Bystanders shouted “thief, thief,” and Wasserlauf, a member of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit Party, noticed a suspect fleeing the scene with a helmet and a rock in his hands.
After a short chase, the minister apprehended the suspect, handing him over to police who were called to the scene, Maariv said.
The Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit told JNS on Wednesday morning that the suspect was still being questioned at a police station, and that charges could be pressed if the victim decides to file a complaint.
Residents of southern Tel Aviv have complained for years about the impact of illegal migrants in their neighborhood, with entire areas having turned into “no-go” zones.
In May 2023, African migrants threw rocks at Wasserlauf’s home in the Shapira neighborhood. No injuries were reported in the attack.
