Arab crime in Israel: 47% of murders are committed by Israeli Arabs

Over a third of Israelis fear for their personal security, a new poll has revealed. This is three times the number of Israelis who are worried about threats from beyond the country's borders. The poll, conducted by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), was published in Israel Hayom on Thursday.

"Israel is swiftly turning into a violent country," Brigadier-General (Res.) Dr. Meir Elran, director of the Institute's internal affairs department, commented on the poll's results.

According to Elran, "We aren't there yet, certainly not on the scale of the United States, but incidents of serious violence, of bullying, are becoming more and more widespread. It wasn't in our lexicon in the past, certainly not to such a great degree, but now it's standard."

Violence in the Arab sector is far more of a problem than in the Jewish sector. Police data from the past year that has yet to be published shows that while Arabs make up only 21% of Israel's population, they are involved in 41% of crimes in general.

Broken down into categories, Arabs were responsible for 47% of reported murders, 60% of property crimes, and around 36% of robberies. In addition, 86% of weapons-related crimes were committed by Arabs. READ MORE