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Gun violence soaring in Israel's Arab community, as government cuts funding

After boasting in his election campaign that his primary goal in the Knesset would be curbing violence and crime, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has already cut funding for such programs in the Arab community.

Israeli Arab men take part in a protest after a student was killed in a reported police shootout this week, in the northern Arab-Israeli town of Umm-Al Fahem on February 5, 2021. - Hundreds of Arab Israelis demonstrated protesters defied coronavirus restrictions on gatherings to demonstrate in front of the police station in the Arab-Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI / AFP) (Photo by AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images)
Israeli Arab men take part in a protest in the northern Arab-Israeli town of Umm-Al Fahem on February 5, 2021. — AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images

BAQA AL-GHARBIYYEH, Israel — The Israeli police force has published data on its campaign against violence in the Arab sector since January, revealing that it has seized, among other weapons, 351 illegally owned pistols during that period alone.

The report released last week identified some 1,800 people as the "main generators of crime within Israeli-Arab society.”

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