According to media reports, none of the three had a criminal background or was associated with criminal activity.
Also this week, a 33-year-old man was shot in the village of Kalansuwa; a man was stabbed in the town of a-Tira; a man was shot in Baka al-Gharbiya; and another man was shot while sitting in his car in Wadi Ara.
According to an Abraham Initiatives report, 49 Arab citizens have been killed since the beginning of the year.
Some might see it as business as usual. Arabs are getting murdered, and no one is doing anything about it.
A relative of Haboub, one of the victims in Umm el-Fahm, was quoted saying: “the murderers are walking around freely. They don’t give a damn about anyone, including the police.”
He then added: “I don’t know why he was killed. I didn’t feel that he was in danger.”
Amid this wave of violence, chaos, and anarchy on Israeli-Arab streets, we are once again in a situation in which anarchy rules.
And the question that must be asked is – have we not learned anything? Did we suddenly forget how it appears when weapons are also pointed at Jews?
For years, both Arabs and non-Arabs have warned that weapons held illegally among the Arab sector will be used at some point to threaten and kill people among the general public. It is believed that as many as 300,000 firearms and other munitions are being held without permit in the Arab sector. These include pistols, rifles, assault rifles, grenades, and even anti-tank rockets of various types.
And then, the riots broke out in Lod, Acre, Jaffa and other parts of the country. This was no surprise. The lawlessness has been spreading there for years.
It is the time to say enough.
We’ve seen a glimpse of what would happen if those who hold the illegal weapons decide to use them. It must be ended immediately.
But even if those weapons are not used against Jews, there can be absolutely no question that a country that expects it people to adhere to law and order, Arabs citizens must also be able to live safely.
Testimonies from Arab towns are horrifying. Innocent people describe how they are extorted and threatened daily by criminal gangs.
“Ordinary” people are forced to arm themselves for protection because if they don’t, nobody else will.
This is the part where we usually call on the police to intervene and confiscate these arms.
But maybe, just maybe, they can’t. After two years without a police chief, it seems as if this organization needs a rigorous reshuffle.
The inability to clamp down on the riots and prevent the severe failures in Meron and Givat Ze’ev showed us that there is something wrong in the way the police is functioning.
And this is the time to offer something else – a positive approach.
Experts link the presence of illegal weapons in Arab towns to discrimination in land uses.
The country has failed to create a proper mechanism to will allow Arabs to gain building permits and as a result they can’t get mortgages. This has led many people to turn to the gray market, which is often run by criminal and armed gangs.
So maybe, just for once, the government will try to invest in Arab social affairs instead of building another police station.
In these sensitive political days, it is also time to call on whoever forms the next government to include Arab representatives.
It is true that the current situation has sharpened the contrast in national-identity differences between Jews and Palestinians. However, let’s not forget the major leap Arab society has undergone in the past two decades.
More and more Arabs are now integrated into many sectors of society, including academia, medicine, the media, and sports. Only a respectful, equal life will take us out of the circle of violence.
It is time to put an end to the bad, old ways.