Balad: Israel feeds crime in Arab society

The National Democratic Assembly (Balad) has accused Israel of nurturing crime and protecting criminals within Arab society in Israel.

This accusation comes following a car bomb that resulted in the deaths of a woman, her daughter, a boy, and a girl and left several others injured in broad daylight in an Arab town.

Balad, a Palestinian Arab nationalist party representing Arab citizens of Israel, released a statement yesterday evening claiming that “it has become clearer than ever that the Israeli establishment, along with its security apparatus, is feeding crime and protecting criminals by providing them with a safety net to operate within Arab society. This enables them to continue committing murders and shedding Arab blood without accountability. Several indicators also suggest that the establishment draws clear boundaries for these criminals to prevent them from approaching Jewish society.”

The statement added: “The war on our people in all their locations remains ongoing, yet the war on the Palestinian community within Israel takes a different form. The Israeli establishment has, for decades, been complicit in organised crime, allowing it to spread rampant in Arab society. As a result, criminals persist in their actions against their community. At the same time, the authorities claim they are unable to apprehend them, despite being capable of targeting arms shipments in Sudan, Yemen and Tehran.”

The party also criticised the police leadership and far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for visiting the crime scene. The party described their presence as a mere “media stunt,” serving only to promote Ben-Gvir’s sick personality, which “dances on the blood of victims for political and media gain.”

The Palestinian party argued that the spread of organised crime in Arab society, particularly after the year 2000, is no coincidence but rather part of a state-sponsored plan aimed at weakening and dismantling Arab society from within and undermining its resilience.

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