Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to designate Arab criminal organizations as terrorist groups.
“The murderous criminal organizations pose an existential threat to the State of Israel,” Channel 12 cited Netanyahu as telling the Ministerial Subcommittee on Advancing the Fight against Crime in the Arab Sector on Thursday.
The prime minister reportedly asked Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and the head of the government’s task force on crime in Arab society to convene a discussion on the matter.
Israel’s Kan News public broadcaster, in a separate report on Thursday, cited a senior Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) official as warning the government that crime “has reached the level of a security threat.”
The phenomenon “endangers the democratic system and it requires greater involvement from the Shin Bet,” the official declared, adding that a “Guardian of the Walls 2,” would endanger the state’s security.
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has often spoken about instructing the Israel police to prepare for another wave of Hamas-incited riots similar to those in 2021, calling the possible scenario of a “Guardian of the Walls 2.”
In January 2023, Ben-Gvir said that it was just a matter of time, and following Hamas’s attack on Israel in October of that year once again instructed the police to prepare for such a scenario.
Two years ago, it was decided that the Shin Bet would “assist the Israel Police in its operations against the criminal organizations in regard to the local elections, as per its responsibilities, according to law.”
Outgoing Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar has resisted calls for the anti-terror agency to get involved in tackling violent crime, stating in August of 2023 that “a country that leans toward involving the Shin Bet in every complex issue will transform into a very different country.”
Bar announced last month that he would be stepping down on June 15, citing personal responsibility for the agency’s failure to prevent the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
