Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben-Gvir at the scene of the shooting in Yafia (Walla system!)
The High Follow-Up Committee of Israeli Arabs announced today (Thursday) a general strike to be held tomorrow in Arab society in response to the shooting incident in the village of Yafia, in which five young men were shot dead. The committee calls for demonstrations to be organized in towns and villages today and over the coming weekend.
The monitoring warns of the increase in crime, and calls for the involvement of the Shin Bet. "We hold the Israeli institution fully responsible for the alarming increase in crime in our society, since it is the official body that bears official responsibility and has the ability to eradicate this terrible phenomenon," the monitoring said.
Earlier today, five young men were killed in the village of Yafia, near Nazareth, and two others were moderately wounded. The shooting occurred near a car wash business, and a vehicle caught fire nearby, and no injuries were reported. The five were critically wounded and evacuated to the English Hospital in Nazareth, where they were pronounced dead. At the same time, two relatives, a three-year-old toddler and a 30-year-old man, were seriously injured in the village of Cana and evacuated to Poriya Hospital near Tiberias.
In response to the shooting, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "shocked by the horrific murder near Nazareth. We are determined to stop this string of murders. We will do this not only with the reinforcement of the police, but also with the assistance of the Shin Bet. I am determined to bring in the Shin Bet as an auxiliary element for the Israel Police against these criminals, against criminal organizations, against these murders."
Netanyahu added that this week he held a series of meetings on the issue of the Shin Bet being introduced to fight crime in Arab society. "I intend to continue next week and get a quick result," he said. His remarks come against the backdrop of a statement this morning by Likud MK Eliyahu Revivo, who announced that he considers himself "free from coalition commitment" as long as the Shin Bet Law, which is intended to allow the organization's involvement in dealing with Arab crime alongside the police, is not promoted.
Later, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir Ben-Gvir arrived on the scene, accusing previous governments of "decades of neglect and lack of governance that are exploding in our faces." According to Ben-Gvir, the solutions to crime are the establishment of the National Guard and the introduction of the Shin Bet. "I thank the prime minister for listening, I demand that already at the next cabinet meeting we make this decision. These two things will eradicate violence in Arab society," he said.
Residents were outraged by the conduct of the police and Minister Ben-Gvir. "The police protect the murderers. Tell me they don't know who murdered, they know who it is," said one resident. "The police are responsible, M16 is made in the IDF, made in Israel. It would have been possible to reach the murderers within minutes, if there had been a case in a Jewish city they would have been treated differently." Another civilian attacked Ben-Gvir: "He shouldn't be treated, you piece of rag. He's human shit – we don't need to talk about him. He has bags, he was a terrorist."
"This massacre is at Ben-Gvir's hands," said Rula Daoud, co-director of the Standing Together movement, in response to the minister's arrival at the scene of the murder. "Almost 100 Arabs have been murdered since the beginning of the year and Ben-Gvir did nothing, he left us to bleed to death. Ben-Gvir failed, and we paid for it with our lives. It's time for him to resign."
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- Itamar Ben-Gvir
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- Arab Follow-up Committee of Israeli Arabs