Israeli police launch major raid on Negev Bedouin town

Israeli police launched an open-ended, large-scale operation in the Bedouin town of Tarabin in the Negev overnight Monday, arresting 16 suspects on weapons charges and seizing military-grade firearms allegedly stolen from Israel Defense Forces bases after earlier clashes in which officers were filmed fleeing stone-throwing locals.

Hundreds of officers and the Border Police’s National Guard troops have cordoned off the community and set up a temporary command center as part of what a senior police official described to Channel 12 News as a deep crackdown on illegal weapons and lawlessness, saying the operation will continue “until the mission is complete.”

The raid followed a series of incidents in nearby Jewish communities, including stone-throwing and arson attacks around Giv’ot Bar, that residents say left them feeling unprotected and forced many to go about armed.

In the early hours of Wednesday, five cars were torched at a gas station at the entrance to the Negev town of Lehavim, some six miles from Tarabin, in what police say was a Bedouin “price tag” attack in retaliation for the ongoing operation, prompting vows to toughen measures and a report on Ynet citing a police source calling to bring the Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, into the effort.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, whose ministry spearheaded the broader “governance” campaign in Bedouin localities, paid a brief visit to the entrance of Tarabin to show support for the forces on Sunday, posting video of his “governance tour in the Negev” to X and declaring that there will be law and order in the Negev, repeating his slogan that “we are the landlords here.”