Israeli crime witnesses say their families are being hunted despite police protection
Israel’s police have been promising to crush organized crime through operations with forceful names and public displays of seized weapons and cash, but in Arab towns and cities some families say the state has already lost control. Their relatives cooperated with law enforcement, became state witnesses in serious criminal cases, and since then have lived under constant threat. Some are guarded, others are in hiding, and several have already paid with their lives.
The article centers on the killing of a 67-year-old man from Tamra, who was shot on Road 70 near Kabul in the western Galilee on Tuesday while driving to work. Family members said they had faced months of threats because a relative testified against a crime group. Despite heavy security around their home, they said the attackers tracked the family’s movements, identified the moment he left, and struck him on a major road. A relative told ynet, “The witness put all of us in the same hole,” adding that the family’s life became more dangerous than prison and that “criminal organizations work harder than the Shin Bet.”
The family said the victim had stayed home for months out of fear, but recently insisted on returning to normal life. He reportedly said, “I cannot continue living like this, I want to go back to work,” and his relatives begged him not to leave. Another relative said the attack showed that the gunmen monitored the family “in minute detail” and knew police and security movements.
The article says the pattern is not isolated. About two months ago, Ziad Abu Naji, in his 60s from Nazareth, was killed at his car repair business under his home after a relative became a witness against a crime organization. Relatives said they feared one of them would be killed, that the witness was safe while the family paid the price, and that some had fled to hiding places, even though criminals kept searching for them. Another recent case in the north involved a man killed after a relative testified, and in Tayibe, a young man became a witness against a gang and later his brother was murdered. Families now fear that informing on extortion, murder or other serious crimes can turn parents, siblings, uncles and extended relatives into targets. The article contrasts this reality with Police Commissioner Danny Levy’s pledge a month ago to launch Operation Iron Net and “grind them down,” while noting that since the beginning of the year 133 people have been murdered in Arab society.
