The national security Committee, chaired by MK Tzvika Foghel (Otzma Yehudit), convened on Monday to discuss the Combating Organized Crime Groups Bill (Amendment—Declaring an Organized Crime Group as a Terrorist Organization), 2025, sponsored by Committee Chair MK Foghel, ahead of the bill’s first reading.
Abir Ghanaim, a community center director from Baqa al-Gharbiya: “The community centers work with the community outside of formal programs. My personal security and the security of my fellow community center directors has been harmed as a result of threats from organized crime groups. We fear that we will soon see a funeral of a community center director because of the activity of the organized crime groups. Civil society has been harmed due to the activity of organized crime groups in Arab society. We’re afraid for our lives.”
Yonadav Hornik of the Israel Association of Community Centers (IACC): “Over sixty percent of community center directors in Arab society have reported that they experienced harm from organized crime groups in the community centers that they manage.”
Committee Chair MK Foghel: “We are in a national state of emergency. Violence in general and in Arab society in particular is rising and even running rampant, and it is exacting an unthinkable cost in blood, including many innocent people. The organized crime groups are becoming more sophisticated and employing the methods of terrorist organizations. The characteristics of the organized crime groups are becoming similar to those of terrorist organizations. The purpose of the bill is to give law enforcement agencies the necessary tools to enforce against criminal organizations and to give them broad powers similar to those for coping with terrorist organizations. We must approve the bill as quickly as possible, and enable the law enforcement agencies to acquire the tools they need. We are dedicating today’s debate to comments from various agencies, and on Thursday we will begin to read out the wording of the bill.”
MK Aida Touma Sliman (Hadash-Ta’al): “We want a real battle against the organized crime groups. We won’t be silent and won’t rest until the organized crime groups leave the villages. The year 2026 is a bloody year in terms of murders in Arab society, and this needs to be stopped. Protection racketeering is a highly violent phenomenon in Arab society, which also harms innocent family members. We will employ all non-violent measures and will strike until the police put a stop to the violence in Arab villages. In the Knesset, there is sometimes a legislative race that forgets its purpose. The current bill has to undergo a very serious change in order to be relevant. The title of the bill casts a negative light on Arab society as a whole. The state must compensate the Arab citizens who are harmed by organized crime groups.”
Sergey Ashurov of the Netanya Municipality: “Junkies shoot up on drugs in front of minors. We have a legal problem with operating the motorcycle unit in our region, and we would be glad for the committee’s assistance in this regard. We want to work in cooperation with the Ministry of national security to increase our residents’ sense of security. The Municipal Enforcement Unit currently has six squad cars, but we don’t have enough personnel to do this important work. We need additional positions in the city of Netanya to make the organized crime groups keep their heads down.”
Keren Aviram of the Ministry of national security‘s Legal Department: “The characteristics of the organized crime groups need to be formulated [in writing] so that we can focus on the key ones. More clauses from the Counter-Terrorism Law need to be incorporated in the bill. The bill should be enacted with the correct balance, which will enable quick enough legislation with sufficient powers.”
Gilad Bahat of the Israel Police: “A comprehensive package should be provided that will both give tools to the police and will also ease the situation of the victims and their families in protection from the criminals. Many victims of crimes are afraid to complain to the police because of the fear of organized crime groups. The Israel Police has a problem, because the victims of crimes are afraid to testify to the police. The legislation process is fine and good, but it isn’t able to keep up with the pace of the organized crime groups. The main cause for the crimes committed by the organization is economic interests, and we have to know how to deal with the problem from the roots. We are proposing various mechanisms that will help victims of crimes testify against the criminals. A track has to be created that will make it easier for victims of crimes from Arab society to testify and to break the circle of silence.”
Adv. Roi Kahlon, head of the Bureau for Combating Crime in Arab Society in the Prime Minister’s Office: “The criminals from the organized crime groups in Arab society threaten the State of Israel’s national security. As soon as we defined the threat from the organized crime groups as an irregular threat to the state’s national security, similar to a terrorist organization, we will deviate from the main route of dealing [with these groups] by criminal law, but we will be able to cause very serious harm to the organized crime groups. The Israel Police is taking action above and beyond, making use of limited tools and resources, and we have to know how to give it the tools that it needs.”
Committee Chair MK Foghel said in summation, “The Israel Police does not have the correct tools to take action against the organized crime groups. The criminals understand this, and they take advantage of the situation to rear their heads. The bill seeks to provide the suitable tools to stop the crime. I have the sense that there are various organizations that want crime to continue to run rampant in the streets. I found the civil protest in Sakhnin heartwarming, but when the leaders of the political organizations announced that they were uniting, I started to worry. The organized crime groups are an existential threat to our normal routine, and I am concerned that the leaders of the Arab parties are not working with us in tandem to resolve the problem.”
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