The chairman of the Knesset’s Interior Committee, Yoav Kisch of Likud, decided to cancel an emergency discussion by his committee on violence and organized crime in the Arab sector sponsored by Ayman Odeh, chairman of the predominantly Arab Joint List. According to Kisch, Odeh had participated in a conference he claimed was organized by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which Israel considers a terrorist organization. “The committee that I chair will not cooperate with anyone who supports terrorism,” Kisch explained.
The conference, which took place in Jerusalem’s Ambassador Hotel, was supposed to discuss the status of Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine. The Russia-Palestine Friendship Society organized it. Haider Aghanin, Russian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority, and Alexander Sorokin, director of the Russian Cultural Center in Bethlehem, were scheduled to participate, but then Yoram Halevy, Jerusalem district police commander, signed an order banning the conference, and the participants were forcibly dispersed. The Israel Police claimed that it had received information that the conference had been organized by groups considered to be terrorist organizations.
In an interview with Al-Monitor, Odeh rejected this claim by the police. He added that he even asked to present the Knesset speaker with his invitation from the Russian Embassy to attend the event. The embassy had issued a statement confirming that the conference was a friendly gathering and that no terrorist organizations were involved in it. Nevertheless, Kisch called Odeh a “supporter of terrorism” and canceled the discussion on an issue that is a major agenda item for Israel’s Arab population.
On June 9, the journalist Guy Peleg reported on some chilling figures on the crime rate among Israeli Arabs. Although Israeli Arabs constitute about 20% of Israel’s total population, police statistics show that some 60% of all murders involve Israeli Arabs, while 95% of shooting incidents occur in Arab localities or involve Arab crime syndicates. Arab involvement in incidents involving the possession of weapons stands at 76%.
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