Ben Gvir: There’s a bigger threat than 150 Arabs killed — it could spill over to Jews

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees the police, said Wednesday that the spiraling crime wave in Arab communities poses a security threat to the State of Israel and could spill over into Jewish communities, which he termed “a bigger threat” than the current state of near-daily murders.

“The reality is that we have an existential threat,” said the far-right minister, who came under attack Wednesday by senior opposition and coalition figures over his handling of the deadly string of murders in the Arab community that have shattered records set over the past few years.

“It’s not just the over 150 people killed, may their memory be a blessing, we have a bigger threat,” Ben Gvir said in an interview with public broadcaster Kan, calling Arab criminal gangs armed “militias.”

“Crime in the Arab sector could very well spill over into the Jewish sector. They have [all kinds of] weapons that could all be directed at us upon command,” he said.

In response to his comment, the interviewer asked if “we should only care because it might spill over into Jewish communities” to which Ben Gvir said that noting this aspect was “important.”

“It’s going from being a crime problem to a security threat to the State of Israel,” he said. “There’s a reality that is bad, and it’s going to get worse. We don’t fully grasp the issue.”

While discussing terrorism in the West Bank, Ben Gvir also told Channel 12 that his family’s rights were more important than those of Arabs in the West Bank.

“My right, and my wife’s and my children’s to get around on the roads in Judea and Samaria, is more important than the right to movement for Arabs,” he said, referring to the West Bank by its biblical name. “That’s the reality, that’s the truth.”

Ben Gvir’s comments came a day after four people, including a mayoral candidate, were gunned down in the Arab town of Abu Snan, and two days after the killing of Tira’s municipal director.

A prominent anti-violence advocacy group, the Abraham Initiatives, has recorded 156 killings in Arab communities so far in 2023.

In the interview with Kan, and with Channel 12 separately, Ben Gvir blamed years of government neglect, the empowerment of Arab crime families, and a flood of illegal weapons for the killings. “You have crime families, and crime gangs. Am I responsible that there are now tens of thousands of weapons in the Arab community?” he said on Kan.

Ben Gvir said that criminal entities grew in influence as weapons poured into Arab communities over the past few years.

“It’s years upon years of neglect,” he said, adding that he doesn’t solely blame his predecessor, former public security minister Omer Bar-Lev, for the spike in killings.

Bar-Lev had slammed Ben-Gvir in comments earlier Wednesday, calling him a “zero” and accusing him of squandering plans already formulated to fight crime in Arab communities when he took office in January.

Ben Gvir shot back at Bar-Lev that he left behind a mess at the ministry and a dysfunctional police force.

In his interview with Channel 12, Ben Gvir accused Bar-Lev and Yoav Segalovich, former head of the Israel Police’s Lahav 433 anti-fraud unit, of paying off crime families. They “gave money to the Arab street, and with this money today, the crime families are celebrating,” he charged.

In both interviews, the head of the Otzma Yedit party defended his record as national security minister, arguing that he secured a bigger police budget in coalition talks to boost salaries, hire more officers and open key positions, and lamenting that the establishment of his controversial national guard to fight local crime will take time.

“I want things now. I want administrative detentions now. I want to intervene now and to fight criminal gangs,” he said, adding that the matter was urgent.

“We don’t have time, we need to bring in the Shin Bet now,” he added. Ben Gvir has repeatedly advocated to involve the Shin Bet internal security agency, and to use its counter-terrorism tools — like administrative detentions, which are frequently used by military authorities in the West Bank, but not inside Israel — in the fight against crime in Arab communities

Following the latest killings of a municipal official and mayoral candidate in Arab towns, a ministerial panel established to address violent crime in Arab communities tasked the Shin Bet on Wednesday with assisting police operations “against criminal organizations in all matters related to the municipal elections,” according to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office.

Ben Gvir’s handling of crime in Arab communities came under fire Wednesday by a number of officials across the political spectrum.

Among those who assailed Ben Gvir was an unnamed senior Likud official who told the Ynet news site that the minister’s obsession with media attention was hampering his ability to fulfill his role.

Ben Gvir campaigned on promises to beef up public safety and heads the ministry that oversees the police, but has been unable to stem the soaring crime wave.

Opposition MK Benny Gantz, leader of the National Unity party, urged Netanyahu to dismiss Ben Gvir and find someone else who can do the job.

“I call on the prime minister — the responsibility is on you. No political price will equal the blood price we pay as a society. You must fire Ben Gvir, and appoint a minister who wants to and is able to handle the crisis,” Gantz said at a gathering in Tira alongside MK Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist Ra’am party.

“The minister who is supposed to take care of personal security is incapable of management and has no desire to help Arab society,” he said. “There is a reality in which Israeli citizens do not know if they will wake up alive tomorrow morning.”

“The most basic value, the right to vote and to be elected, is under threat,” he said, in reference to the targeting of political figures ahead of municipal elections. “Without guaranteeing a secure life, without guaranteeing the basic right to vote and to be elected, democracy has no right to exist.”

Gantz also criticized the government for attacks by some ministers and coalition lawmakers on top IDF commanders, including IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi, at a time when Israel is also facing a spate of deadly terror attacks.

“When cabinet ministers turn the discussions into a press conference, and the coalition members attack the army commanders, we transmit weakness instead of resilience and strength. We give motivation to our enemies and undermine deterrence,” he said, referring to leaks from a security cabinet meeting the night before that highlighted bickering among ministers.

Shortly after the meeting, partial quotes were leaked to Hebrew media of an exchange between Ben Gvir and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, the latter of whom was blamed a day earlier by Ben Gvir and other ultranationalist ministers for the deadly terror wave.

An unnamed source described by Ynet as a senior Likud minister criticized Ben Gvir, telling the outlet Wednesday that the minister is “obsessed with media, that’s all he cares about. The noise he makes is not helpful.

“He gives the impression that other things don’t interest him. He babbles all day and it does damage both at the national and international level,” the minister said. “The noise he makes hurts Netanyahu and Likud.”

Abbas, the Ra’am party leader, also urged removing Ben Gvir, telling Ynet that “the national security minister needs to be replaced. There is no trust and he needs to be replaced. This is a necessary step.”

National Unity MK Ze’ev Elkin said in a statement: “When all the national security minister cares about is elections and media gimmicks, then you see the result. The numbers speak for themselves. Itamar Ben Gvir has become a court jester and failed miserably.”

Opposition Leader Yair Lapid said that “the fully right-wing government has failed,” a reference to the right, far-right and religious parties that make up the coalition.

“There is more terrorism, more murder and less personal security for the citizens of Israel,” he said in a statement. “On Netanyahu’s watch, the country is falling apart and people are being murdered every day, We are in a state of emergency, we cannot continue like this.”

Meanwhile, firebrand Likud MK Tally Gotliv said it was Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara who was to blame for Arab community violence by denying police the use of administrative detentions to hold criminal suspects without charge.

“The blood of the murdered is on her hands,” Gotliv said. “A few months ago, the police asked Miara for administrative arrest warrants for six super-dangerous targets. Miara refused! Since then, five of them have been involved in murders and attempted murders. The main thing is that she found time for what is really important, which is to interfere with governance.”

She was referring to remarks made by Ben Gvir in a Facebook post, in which he claimed that months ago the police under his supervision requested the right to arrest six gang leaders and hold them without filing charges — a tool known as administrative detention that is frequently used by military authorities in the West Bank, but not inside Israel — but the request was denied by Baharav-Miara. Ben Gvir claimed that five of the six were later involved in killings or attempted killings.

The claim has not received confirmation from authorities.

In the same post, Ben Gvir said Arab armed gangs are “terrorist organizations” with “huge budgets and hundreds of thousands of weapons at their disposal, including millions of bullets, explosive charges and grenade launchers.”

According to the Abraham Initiatives anti-violence advocacy group, 156 members of Israel’s Arab community have been killed since the start of the year, mostly in shootings. During the same time frame last year, 68 were killed.

The killings are part of a violent crime wave that has engulfed the Arab community in recent years. Many community leaders blame the police, whom they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence. They also point to decades of neglect and discrimination by government offices as the root cause of the problem.