Shots were fired at the home of Tamra Mayor Sohil Diab early Wednesday morning, causing damage but no casualties, the police reported. Three suspects were arrested.
The shooting comes amid a series of attacks on local Arab Israeli political figures.
After the arrests, the Tamra Municipality building was the target of gunfire, causing damage but no casualties, the police said.
Three other political figures have been targetted
Nazareth mayoral candidate Musaab Duchan, his brother, and another individual were wounded in a shooting on Monday evening. The attack on Duchan was preceded by shots fired at his home.
While the victims survived in these two incidents, other attacks on political figures have been fatal. In Abu Sinan, near Acre, local council candidate Ghazi Saab was murdered last Tuesday, along with three other victims, two of whom were Saab’s family members. The day before, Tira Municipality Director-General Abed al-Rahman Kashu was murdered in a shooting.
The Hadash-Ta’al Party and other Arab leaders called on the government to take action against the troubling trend in an already surging crime wave in the Arab community. More than 160 people have been killed in Arab-sector criminal violence since the beginning of 2023. The rising number has already eclipsed 2022’s casualty count, which numbered 106 deaths for the entire year.
On Monday night, a meeting to discuss budget allocations to counter the crime wave was held. It was attended by Justice Minister Yariv Levin, Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) Director Ronen Bar, Israel Police Insp.-Gen. Kobi Shabtai, and Arab local council representatives. It followed a Knesset subcommittee meeting devoted to the problem that was convened by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Wednesday.
Tens of millions of shekels are set to be budgeted for additional police equipment. Monitoring mechanisms were also proposed to ensure that funds would reach citizens and not criminal organizations.
Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.