A 60-year-old imam was shot and killed while leaving a mosque in the Israeli Arab town of Kafr Qara on Saturday, as a wave of murders in the Arab sector continued.
Sheikh Sami Abed al-Latif was known for mediating local disputes in the community of 20,000.
Kafr Qara, which lies within an area south of Haifa with a concentration of Arab municipalities often referred to as the “Arab Triangle.”
Latif’s killing came on the heels of a double murder in Kafr Qara, when 33-year-old Fuad Nasrallah and a relative, 13-year-old Muhammad Sa’id, were shot in a car on Thursday evening.
According to the Abraham Initiative, a Jewish-Arab organization which promotes Arab integration into Israel society, Latif’s murder brings to 166 the number of Arab Israelis killed in criminal violence since the beginning of 2023.
This year’s spike in violence is attributed to organized crime groups fighting turf battles and trying to eliminate rivals. Arab criminal organizations have been involved in extortion, money laundering, trafficking in weapons, drugs and women.
Local leaders have called on the government to take action.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu supports giving the Shin Bet security agency a more active role in fighting the rising crime, but this suggestion is opposed by Arab leaders and Shin Bet officials.
Towards the end of August, the Shin Bet became involved in investigating the murders of two candidates running in local elections due to be held on Oct. 31.
Ghazi Sa’ab, a Druze who had announced his candidacy for head of the local council of Abu Snan was shot and killed along with three relatives. That same week, Abed Rahman Kashua, the director-general of the Arab village of Tira was also killed.
Both were government officials in their localities, prompting Shin Bet participation in the investigation. Police do not believe that either of the attacks were linked to elections.
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