The murder rate rises among Arab-Israelis

AUGUST 11TH WAS a red-letter day for the Israeli police. A new division, headed by Israel’s first Muslim deputy commissioner, was inaugurated with the mission “to thwart crime in Arab-Israeli communities and to restore security to the streets”. In the Middle East, where no ceremony is complete without guns, weapons seized in raids on Arab neighbourhoods were put on display. Naftali Bennett, Israel’s prime minister, promised enough funding to triple the number of Arab officers in the force in the next few years.In the months since, however, violence has soared. At least 109 Arab-Israelis have been murdered this year, mostly by gangs. To emphasise their control of the streets, criminals shot at the new commander’s home in Kafr Kanna in Galilee.