NIS 220 million meant for Arab community to be diverted to police, ministers decide |
Over NIS 220 million ($68.5 million) will be cut from a program meant to boost Arab economic development and instead allocated to the police to combat “severe nationalistic crime” in the Arab community, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said Sunday.
The planned move, which drew condemnation from Arab leaders, falls short of the NIS 3.1 billion ($960 million) that Social Equality Minister May Golan had initially sought to divert from the program to the National Security Ministry, the police, the Shin Bet security service, and her own ministry.
The decision represents “a critical and significant step in Prime Minister Netanyahu’s national plan to combat crime and illegal weapons in the Arab sector,” and was made during a cabinet meeting held Sunday in Dimona, according to the joint statement from Netanyahu, Golan, and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir.
Ben Gvir, who heads the far-right Otzma Yehudit party, has been accused of imposing collective punishment against Arab towns and ordering military-style police campaigns to crack down on rampant crime in the community.
“The decision approved [Sunday] is an important step toward a clear policy: zero tolerance for criminals, significant strengthening of the police and the Shin Bet, and the restoration of security to law‑abiding citizens, Jews and Arabs alike,” said Ben Gvir. “This is only the first stage, and this struggle will continue with determination and full force.”
Golan said that the diverted sum included in the decision will establish a “groundbreaking” program to address “the root of the problem,” which will both supplement and strengthen the existing program to combat crime in the Arab community.
Funds will be diverted from a five-year NIS 30 billion ($8.3 billion) program created in 2021 under the short-lived Naftali Bennett-Yair Lapid-led government, designed to bring Arab communities........