A police official has said the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorist group is trying to smuggle weapons into Israel for use by the Arab-Israeli community in future clashes.
Israel police have seen a significant increase in arms smuggling efforts into the country through the borders of Lebanon and Jordan in the months following the conflict with the Gaza Strip in May, sparking some of the most serious riots in decades between Jews and Arabs. was with. community in Israel, Channel 12 reported on Monday.
According to the report, there has been a manifold jump in smuggling and there has been a marked improvement in the quality of the weapons being shipped, which the police have described as a “strategic threat” to the country.
Police say the weapons are intended to be a crime organization in the Arab community, where they would also be available for terrorist attacks in the event of another surge in violence between Jews and Arabs.
Chief Superintendent Yaron Ben-Yashi, the head of the Northern District Police Intelligence, told the network that 95 percent of smuggling from Lebanon is directed by Iran-backed Hezbollah.
Ben-Yashi said that in the past Hezbollah had tried to push drugs into Israel to “poison our youth”, but the terrorist group now focused on arms smuggling rather than preparing for the expected “doomsday”. strategy has changed.
“He saw sensitivity around Temple Mount” during the May clashes. [in Jerusalem] And they know that the day things explode, the Arab Israelis will have enough weapons to use them [Hezbollah’s] Hostile terrorist activities,” he said.
Screen capture from video of Yaron Ben-Yashi, Chief Superintendent of Israel Police Northern District Intelligence. (Channel 12 News)
In July, Israeli troops intercepted what was Reportedly the biggest effort in recent years To smuggle weapons across the border from Lebanon.
Since the beginning of the year, police officers in the Northern District have seized 140 pistols and 20 assault rifles, Channel 12 reported in a preview of a more in-depth investigation that aired on Tuesday, but estimated that many more weapons were successfully brought into the country. Had gone.
on Sunday, Anu Israeli man shot dead And four others were wounded in a terrorist attack by a Palestinian gunman in the Old City of Jerusalem. The shooter, an East Jerusalem resident identified as a member of the Hamas terrorist group, was armed with a submachine gun manufactured by Italian firearms manufacturer Beretta, of significantly better quality than guns produced locally in West Bank workshops. The weapon was
Dozens of guns were seized during a smuggling operation off Lebanon on July 10, 2021. (Israel Defense Force)
Arab communities have seen an increase in violence in recent years, driven primarily not only by organized crime, but also by violence.
a school principal on monday was shot and wounded in the northern Arab Israeli city of Arba.
Since the beginning of 2021, at least 111 billion were killed in suspected homicides, according to the Abraham Initiatives nonprofit. Of them, 93 were Israeli Arab citizens and another 18 were Palestinian, either from East Jerusalem or with Israeli residency.
Arabs blame the Israeli police, which they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore violence, including family feuds, mafia wars and violence against women. The community has also been the victim of decades of neglect.
In October, the cabinet passed a plan to allocate NIS 2.5 billion ($750 million) over the next five years. Fight a wave of criminal activity in Arab communities.
