Between 2018 and 2022, there were 690 homicides, in which 731 victims were murdered. Most of the victims, 70%, were Arabs. The monthly average of murdered in Arab society has nearly doubled between 2022 and 2023, and in Jewish society it has risen by 65%, according to a special report prepared in the Knesset ahead of an urgent discussion to be held today (Monday) in the Public Security Committee on the rising violence and murders in the Arab sector with the participation of the police chief.
Israel Hayom received a Knesset Information Center document prepared for the hearing at the request of committee chairman MK Zvika Fogel, detailing the crime map and the wave of murders that have taken place in recent years.
The report was submitted at his request. Committee Chairman MK Zvika Fogel (Archive), photo: Oren Ben Hakon
According to the police, between 2021 and 2017, a total of about 876,39 files were opened in which a suspect or complainant (a person against whom a complaint was filed) was registered. The share of non-Jews in open files opened during this period ranged from 43% to 26%. In terms of data on files in which an indictment was filed out of open files in those years, it emerges that the rates of cases in which an indictment was filed were slightly higher when the suspect or complainant was non-Jewish: the rate of filing an indictment ranged from 28% to 22% in open files with a non-Jewish suspect or complainant, compared to rates of 26%-<>% in open cases in which the suspect or complainant was Jewish.
In October 2021, the government decided to implement a multi-year plan to eradicate crime and violence in Arab society. Meanwhile, it was decided to operate a national emergency plan – the Safe Track program – for a period of six months, which was subsequently extended until the end of 2022.
Crime-generating targets
As part of the program, various law enforcement and government agencies work jointly against targets defined by the police as central targets that generate serious crime in Arab society. These targets are classified into four categories:
- Human targets: People who have been marked as criminals and perpetrators of serious crime that influence crime in Arab society.
- Targets of criminal organizations: People operating within criminal organizations that the police have mapped and declared to be crime generators.
- Location targets: Arab localities that the police have designated as areas with high crime activity
- Target phenomena: Crime phenomena defined and characteristic of selected areas. At the same time, as part of the multi-year plan, the Public Security Ministry has formulated goals and indices to examine its success, including raising the rate of solving murder incidents to 36%.
According to flotilla data relating to reported crime according to the place where the offense was committed, from the beginning of 2018 to the end of the first quarter of 2023, about 1.5 million files were opened by the police regarding offenses committed in the various authorities in the country.
In the authorities involved, crime rates are higher
The calculation of the number of files relative to the size of the population shows that on a national average, an average of about 30 files were opened per year per 2018,2022 residents during the period in question. An examination of file data by type of authority reveals gaps between types of authorities in the rate of reported crime relative to population size: while in Jewish and Arab localities the reported crime rates relative to population size were similar, in the mixed authorities the reported crime rates were higher. Between 690 and 731, there were 70 homicides, in which 24 victims were murdered. Most of the victims – 6% – were Arabs, <>% were Jews, and about <>% were others (as defined by the police).
Double murder in Taybeh (archive), photo: Shmuel Buchris
The authors of the document examined the "course of treatment" of murder incidents by comparing data on the total number of incidents, the number of suspects, and the number of indictments filed in each population group and in each of the years examined. The examination revealed that with regard to murder incidents in Arab society, the ratio between the number of suspects and the number of incidents ranged between 56% and 69% during these years.
For the sake of comparison, among Jews, the ratio between the number of suspects and the number of incidents ranged between 71% and 92% during these years. An examination of the number of indictments in relation to the number of murders in 2022-2018 revealed that among Arabs the ratio was 29%. Among Jews, the ratio between the number of indictments and the number of murders during that period was about 69% on average.
Protest against violence against women in the Arab sector (the subjects have no connection to the article), Photo: Gil Eliyahu/Ginny
Between 2019 and 2022, there was a decline in the ratio between the number of indictments and the number of murders in which an Arab victim was registered. As of the date of publication of the data, the ratio of indictments to Arab murders that occurred in 2022 stands at 23%. As noted, one of the goals of the Public Security Ministry was to raise the rate of solving murder incidents in Arab society to 36%.
82 homicides since the beginning of the year
Either way, from the beginning of 2023 to May 3, 2023 (four months), there were 82 homicides, in which 86 victims were murdered. The vast majority of the victims – 72% – were Arabs, 22% Jews, and about 6% others (as defined by the police).
Because 2023 is not yet over and in order to understand the trend in the number of murders, the authors of the document calculated the monthly average of murders, compared to the monthly average in 2022 and 2021. This examination revealed that the monthly average of murders in 2023 (until May 3, 2023) was significantly higher than in the previous two years: in Arab society the average monthly number of murders almost doubled between 2022 and 2023, and in Jewish society it increased by 65%.
The largest number of Arab murder victims
Regarding femicide, between 2018 and 2022, 126 women aged 13 and over were murdered, constituting about 17% of all homicide victims during that period. The number of Arab murder victims was the largest of all groups. From the beginning of 2023 until May 3 (when police data was produced), 12 women were murdered, 7 of them Jewish, 4 Arab and <> "other."
Initiator of the discussion. Meirav Ben Ari (Archive), Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
MK Merav Ben-Ari (Yesh Atid) commented on the document, saying: "The data that emerge from the report are not surprising. The national security minister is only interested in protests against the regime coup, media headlines and TikTok videos. The citizens of Israel pay for his lack of professionalism. It's just big on him."
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