Mother, Daughter Killed Amid ‘Wave of Violence’ in Israel’s Arab Sector

Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid called for increased policing in cities with a mixed Jewish and Arab population on Tuesday, after the murder of a mother and daughter drew national attention to a rise in violence afflicting Israeli Arabs.

Manar Abu Hajaj, 34, and her 14-year-old daughter Khadra were fatally shot near their home on Monday night in the central city of Lod, after returning from grocery shopping. Khadra’s twin sister, Miriam, was shot in the leg and has since been released from the hospital.

“We will be strong for her,” Miriam’s aunt told Israeli media. “She heard what happened, we told her, she understood, she is aware of everything … but she is in shock. Didn’t speak a word since yesterday.”

Police officials suspect that Manar and her daughters were targeted amid a criminal conflict involving their respective husband and father, who does not live in Israel, local media reported.

Lapid’s directive for a greater police presence seeks “to prevent acts of revenge,” according to a statement from his office.

“The feeling of fear and intimidation have become permanent in Lod,” Samah Salaime, a social worker and founder of the Na’am/Arab Women in the Center, said in an interview with Hebrew media. “The criminal organizations are not afraid of anyone,” she added. “They control the streets of Arab cities.”

Israel’s police commissioner Kobi Shabtai on Tuesday night attended a situational assessment in the city, which is home to a mixed Jewish-Arab population.

“In the coming weeks, we will significantly increase the Lod police force with hundreds of officers and fighters who will strengthen the security of the city’s residents,” he said.

Lod mayor Yair Revivo, who called on the government to declare a national emergency, said the double murder was “the continuation of a crazy wave of violence that is raging in the country, in particular in Arab society.”

“I don’t want to sound dramatic, but I assume that if the number of murders would happen in Jewish society, the country would reach a standstill,” he told Ynet. “It’s women, students, it’s young people, normal people. It’s no longer a criminal killing a criminal. It’s harming innocent people who can’t defend themselves, it’s terrible.”

Also on Monday, shortly after the murders in Lod, a man with a bullet wound was kidnapped by several armed gunmen from an ambulance where he was receiving medical attention in the Arab city of Tayibe in central Israel, Hebrew media reported. A suspect in the shooting and kidnapping has since been arrested, while the injured man was located in the Palestinian territories and evacuated for treatment.

Earlier that day, Israel Police said that in the context of the struggle against crime in Arab society, officers participated in covert activities against individuals suspected of selling illicit weapons, “some of which were used to commit serious crimes of violence and shooting in Arab society.” Nine people in eastern Jerusalem and Hebron were arrested.

Israel’s Arab sector has  suffered for years from elevated rates of violence, much of it blamed on organized crime. Last year, the Israeli cabinet approved a multi-year, NIS 30 billion (some $9 billion) plan to tackle disparities in the Arab sector, including education, healthcare, and infrastructure, as well as a second, NIS 2.4 billion (some $700 million) plan specifically to fight crime in Arab society.