The Israel Police has acted against 386 targets defined as main perpetrators of crime in the Israeli-Arab society and has arrested more than 280 suspects all over the country since it commenced with Operation Safe Track in October 2021.
Operation Safe Track is the police’s national enforcement operation against the main perpetrators of crime in the Arab society.
In the past four months, the police have seized hundreds of weapons, and indictments have been filed against 180 suspects for various offenses.
Furthermore, over the past four months, police have thwarted some 25 attempted murders planned by Arab criminal organizations.
The police claim that since the beginning of 2022, there has been a 37% decrease in the number of shooting incidents, 664 compared to 1,052 in the corresponding period last year.
In addition, following murder cases cracked by the police, the State Attorney’s Office filed 11 indictments for murder during this period.
Yigal Ezra, Commander of the Crime Prevention Division in the Arab society, stated Thursday that “the operational activity of the Israel Police against perpetrators of crime yields results that translate into investigative successes.”
Arab-Israeli society is plagued with daily incidents of violence. Over 110 Arabs were killed in criminal violence in 2020 and 126 in 2021.
The vast majority of police activity is carried out in the Arab sector, and about 90% of the suspects arrested for shooting and weapons offenses were Arab Israelis.
Approximately 85% of the indictments filed in Israel in 2020 for shooting, illegal possession of weapons, trafficking, and illegal use of weapons have been filed against suspects from the Arab society.
Speaking at the Knesset’s Public Security Committee in September, Minister of Public Security Omer Barlev described the lawlessness in the Arab sector as “a genuine threat to the internal security of the State of Israel.”
