JERUSALEM
\nSami Abu Shamsia\u2019s wrists were swathed in bandages covering wounds he says were inflicted by mobsters who kidnapped him in October, part of an unprecedented Arab crime wave in Israel.
\nStill bruised, he pointed out bullet holes in the gate outside his east Jerusalem home, a reminder of the drive-by shootings that preceded his abduction.
\nRecalling his five days as a hostage, Shamsia, 47, told AFP he was held in the central city of Lod, one of the areas hit by the violence wracking Israel\u2019s 20 percent Arab minority.
\n\u201cI was blindfolded. My hands were tied behind my feet. My feet were tied with ropes, and I was lying on the ground. They beat me and threatened to fire bullets into my legs,\u201d he said.
\nOfficials have blamed the spate of violence on Arab crime families which have accumulated power and weapons over the past two decades.
\nPrime Minister Naftali Bennett has specifically pointed the finger at organised crime groups he accused of committing murder and running \u201cprotection rackets\u201d.
\n\u201cA state within a state has developed,\u201d Bennett said late last year, charging the gangs had acquired \u201cquantities of illegal weapons that are enough for a small army.\u201d
\nPublic Security Minister Omer Barlev has said \u201ccrime families in the Arab sector\u201d are \u201cholding the community by the throat.\u201d
\n$9.4 bn to \u2018close the gap\u2019
\nBennett\u2019s coalition government, the first in Israeli history to be backed by an Arab party, has approved measures to combat the violence by improving socio-economic conditions among Arab citizens who have long complained of unequal treatment compared to Jewish Israelis.
\nThose programmes include an eye-popping $9.4 billion in funding over five years to \u201cclose the gap\u201d between the country\u2019s Arab and Jewish citizens, focusing on employment promotion, especially in hi-tech, and enhancing social services.
\nA separate $780 million crime fighting plan for Arab communities has also been approved.
\nBut such interventions, which are still getting off the ground, did not stop 2021 from becoming the deadliest year on record for murders with Arab victims.
\nAccording to the Aman Center, a civil society group that works to curtail violence in Israel\u2019s Arab community, a record 128 Arab civilians were killed in 2021 as a result of violent crime.
\nThe group recorded 113 such killings in 2020, 96 in 2019 and 67 in 2018. The vast majority of the victims have been male, according to multiple sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
JERUSALEM Sami Abu Shamsia\u2019s wrists were swathed in bandages covering wounds he says were inflicted by mobsters who kidnapped him in October, part of an unprecedented Arab crime wave in Israel. Still bruised, he pointed out bullet holes in the gate outside his east Jerusalem home, a reminder of the drive-by shootings that preceded his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-238442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n