Public Security Minister Omar Barlev announced on Monday that he was given round-the-clock security because of threats against him by Jewish Israelis.
Barlev did not specify the nature of the threats or who made them, but the minister, a member of the centre-left Labor Party, caused a storm earlier this month when he said he had “settle down” with a US diplomat. violence” was discussed. , Critics, including Barlev’s right-wing coalition allies, have accused him of generalizing from the actions of some extremists in order to denounce an entire community.
“Since this morning I have been on guard round the clock,” Barlev wrote on Twitter.
“After my steadfast campaign against Arab crime families, I hoped that the moment would not come when one of them would personally threaten me. But that is not the case. I see no threat from Arab criminals – I am the Jews of Israel. There is danger from, ”wrote Barlev, whose ministry is responsible for the police.
Barlev’s initial remarks about the settlers and subsequent pushback from the right follow a significant increase in violent attacks by Israeli extremists against Palestinians over previous years.
Although no official figures have been released, the Shin Bet has reported a 50 percent increase in extremist Jewish attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank over the past year. Palestinian rights groups say the attackers are rarely prosecuted, reporting that most cases are closed without prosecution.
Prime Minister Naftali Bennett was joined by other right-wing coalition members and opposition lawmakers who criticized Barlev for the remarks.
But Barlev pushed back, saying that his critics are having difficulty “looking in the mirror”, and that settler violence is becoming an issue on the international stage.
At the time, a man was arrested for allegedly making Facebook threats against Barlev. The 27-year-old suspect wrote of Barlev, “I hope you get lynched, you’re a traitor.”
Masked men, allegedly Israeli settlers, eyewitnesses and police conduct clubs during an attack on Palestinians seeking to harvest olives near Surif on November 12, 2021. (credit: Shai Kendler)
Several coalition lawmakers have been under tight security in recent months, most of them right-wing lawmakers who have been accused of betraying the Left and the Arab Ram Party.
Ram Pramukh MK Mansoor Abbas has also done the dangers faced to join the governing coalition The Knesset guard ordered that security details be provided to him. Abbas made history earlier that year when he led his Islamist Ram in a coalition that includes right-wing, centrist and left-wing parties.
Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana has also been given additional security in facing dangers As he moves forward with profound reforms of Israel’s religious services that are deeply unpopular with the country’s ultra-Orthodox community. Kahana, a member of Bennett’s right-wing Yamina party, is a strictly religious Orthodox Jew. He says his initiative aims to strengthen Israel’s Jewish character.
Arab communities have seen an increase in violence in recent years, driven primarily by organized crime, but not exclusively.
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. This community has also been the victim of decades of neglect.
Barlev has vowed to tackle the issue, which again made headlines on Sunday, when a Woman killed in car bomb attack In the one Arab neighborhood of Ramle. The incident is suspected to be linked to warring crime families in the mixed Jewish-Arab city.