Israeli Government Allocates Funds to Shin Bet for Arab Crime Fight

Yossi Fox, the Government Secretary, informed all government ministries via internal email about plans to reallocate funds from the existing five-year plan to finance initiatives combating Arab crime. These programs will be executed by the police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency). The budget in question originates from the tenure of Naftali Bennett's government and still holds 1.3 billion shekels. Senior officials familiar with the matter indicated that the exact amount to be transferred to Shin Bet is still under consideration and being finalized. This budget reallocation will enable Shin Bet to participate in the fight against Arab crime for the first time. According to current law, Shin Bet is not authorized to handle Arab crime directly, and this legal stance will remain unchanged. However, Shin Bet will now engage specifically in areas related to weapons and smuggling activities within this context.