Over the past two months, 40 police prosecutors and dozens of detectives have asked to resign from Israel Police, which is already grappling with manpower shortages amid a wave of violent crime, according to a Saturday report.
Police are unlikely to accede to the requests, but several officers are threatening to take their cases to labor court, the Cannes public broadcaster said, citing sources familiar with the matter.
A senior official told Kan, “There is no one to investigate the killings.” The police force was already burdened with a shortage of 5,000 people before the wave of resignations.
The senior official said deploying border police officers on a large scale to make arrests will not solve the problem as there is a shortage of detectives to investigate cases and prosecutors to file charges.
The wave of requests for his resignation comes as 102 members of the Arab community have been killed in assassinations since the start of the year, in a growing crime epidemic that has claimed 10 lives in the past three days alone.
Police have so far solved only 10 of these cases in 2023 due to a lack of professional personnel, and are also facing difficulties in pursuing other cases, Kan pointed out.
File: Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai (left) and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir at Israel Police Independence Day celebrations at the Israel Police National Headquarters in Jerusalem, April 20, 2023. (Oren Ben Hakoun/Flash90)
Critics and anti-government protesters have pointed the finger at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose government was sworn in on December 29, 2022, as well as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was met by half a dozen former police chiefs abandon The massive bloodshed continued as on Friday.
there were two young men on saturday evening Shot dead In separate violent incidents in the central Arab-dominated cities of Kalansaway and Jaljulia, law enforcement and medics said.
A 21-year-old resident of a Bedouin community in the Negev desert was stabbed to death during a scuffle with foreign workers near the southern city of Ofakim. Police said it appeared the victim was part of a group that was attempting to steal farm equipment.
An 18-year-old woman was shot dead in northern Israel on Friday; And on Thursday, five people were killed in the northern Arab city of Yafa-Nasriye, in one of the worst single acts of criminal violence in recent years.
Also on Thursday, a man aged in his 30s was shot dead in a drive-by shooting near the central city of Kafr Qasim, while another man was slightly injured. The car crashed after being shot, in which a 46-year-old woman was also injured.
A three-year-old girl and her father were seriously injured in a shooting on Thursday in Kafr Kanna, near Nazareth.
thousands of arab israeli protested on friday Demanded action against the killings and from the authorities.
Demonstrators carry banners with pictures of five Arab Israelis who were shot dead a day earlier as they protested their killing in the village of Yaffa, west of Nazareth, on June 9, 2023. (Ahmed Gharabali/AFP)
Earlier this week, Netanyahu announced the decision to form a steering committee to discuss “solutions to the wave of murders in Arab societies” following a meeting with Arab lawmakers.
He called for immediate action to tackle the crime wave.
On Thursday, Netanyahu said he was “determined to stop this series of murders” and would see that happen not only by strengthening the police but also “with the help of the Shin Bet”.
Police, politicians and community leaders have struggled for years to rein in the criminal activity fueling the rising violence, which has risen sharply in recent months.
Experts say powerful Arab gangs have amassed vast amounts of illegal arms over the past two decades and are involved in drugs, arms and human trafficking, prostitution, extortion and money laundering.
Many Arab community leaders blamed the authorities and police for the crime wave, saying they had failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignored violence, including family feuds, mafia turf wars and violence against women.
Deputy Commissioner Natan Bojna, head of a police unit fighting crime in the Arab community, resigned on Tuesday.
