Raam Party Recruits Ex-Police Official Yoav Segalovich to Combat Arab Crime

Mansour Abbas, the head of the Arab Israeli party Raam, announced the addition of Yoav Segalovich to his party's slate for the upcoming Knesset elections. Abbas framed this alliance as a realization of his strategy for "civil partnership" between Arab and Jewish citizens. At a press conference, Abbas declared that combating crime and violence within the Arab community is Raam's top priority, calling it a "mission" rather than just a platform point, and highlighting the daily fear of families facing insecurity.

Abbas emphasized a political and civil cooperation approach, stating, "To create change, partnership is needed. Civil partnership. To create change, one must see the other as a human being, not an enemy." He justified recruiting Segalovich, a former senior Israeli police official and former deputy minister of internal security, based on this logic. The two men previously collaborated during the "government of change" on tackling crime in the Arab sector, which Abbas claimed yielded concrete results and reversed violence trends.

Abbas asserted that this positive dynamic was interrupted in the last four years, leading to a worsening situation with "nearly a thousand people murdered." He argued that crime in Arab localities is not solely a sectoral issue, but a threat to all of Israeli society, citing illegal weapons and criminal organizations. "The weapon that shoots today in Tamra will shoot tomorrow in Afula. The organizations that extort an Arab merchant today also extort a Jewish mechanic. This is not an Arab problem. It is a problem for the state," he stated.

Abbas explained that he wanted to solidify Raam's alliance strategy before the election, rather than waiting for potential coalition negotiations. He stated, "Those who believe in something do not wait for it to become practical. They start." Addressing potential criticism of a Jewish ex-police officer joining an Arab party's list, Abbas said, "I am not looking for someone who looks like me. I am looking for someone who knows how to do the job."

Abbas concluded by presenting the alliance as a symbol that transcends the issue of crime, declaring, "In every generation, there comes a time when fear and hope are in the same room. Tonight, in this room, hope has won."