Arab mayors warn Netanyahu government: budget cuts will push youth into crime
A murder scene in Qalansawe in central Israel, June 2026
Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 14 July 2026:
Arab mayors and municipal leaders, together with several civil society organizations, have been working in recent days to block a government plan to divert hundreds of millions of shekels from the five-year development plan for Arab society to crime-fighting operations run exclusively by the police and the Shin Bet, Israel’s domestic intelligence agency, Haaretz has learned
According to information obtained by Haaretz, the local authority heads are urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and senior officials across several government ministries to halt the proposal and engage in dialogue before any decision is made.
Under the proposal, the government would cut 532.4 million shekels (about $176 million) from the 2026 budget of the five-year plan for Arab society. Of that amount, 250 million shekels (about $82 million) would be allocated for Shin Bet technology and intelligence capabilities, 150 million shekels (about $50 million) to establish a new dedicated division within the Shin Bet, about 101 million shekels (about $33 million) to create a new national police unit and roughly 32 million shekels (about $10 million) for police technology and additional equipment.
Although the proposal to divert these budgets had not appeared on the agenda of Monday’s cabinet meeting, the heads of the local authorities have already received the draft resolution. They assess that the proposal will be brought for approval at the last minute and passed without in-depth discussion.
The heads of the Arab local authorities say they do not oppose investing additional resources in the fight against crime and regard it as a top national priority. However, they argue that it makes little sense to finance law enforcement by cutting funds intended to address the root causes of crime and redirecting them exclusively to the operational requirements of the police and the Shin Bet.
They also contend that the government’s five-year plan should be viewed not only as a framework for reducing social and economic disparities, but as a central pillar of a broader civilian strategy to prevent crime through investment in education, employment, welfare, urban planning, economic development and stronger local authorities.
Mazen Gnaim, chairman of the Forum of Arab Mayors and mayor of Sakhnin, told Haaretz that the funding proposal was also discussed at a meeting with Police Commissioner Danny Levy a few days ago. During the meeting, Gnaim said, he argued there was no justification for cutting budgets earmarked for Arab society because alternative funding sources were available.
According to Gnaim, Levy responded that the police had confiscated more than 1 billion shekels (about $330 million) from criminal groups. Gnaim said the figure showed that the government could finance its anti-crime efforts without diverting money from Arab society’s development budget.
A demonstration against the soaring crime in the Arab society in May 2026
However, the mayors acknowledge that there is no consensus among them. Some say they would be willing to consider diverting the funds if the government could demonstrate that doing so would lead to a meaningful reduction in crime. Most, however, oppose the proposal in its current form, warning that it would severely undermine development programs and erode the trust that has been built in recent years between the state and Arab local authorities.
In a position paper submitted by the committee to the government and obtained by Haaretz, a budgetary alternative is proposed, aimed at enabling the expansion of the fight against crime without harming the core of the five-year plan. According to the proposal drafted by Umm al-Fahm mayor Samir Subhi Mahameed and Raed Dakka, mayor of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, first, the unutilized budget surpluses from Government Resolution 549, which was also intended for the fight against crime, and the budget surpluses from previous diversions, carried out in 2025 to the tune of approximately 220 million shekels (about $72 million), which the committee claims have not yet been fully utilized, should be exhausted.
Additionally, the mayors have called for protecting a broad range of budgets they describe as “growth engines,” including funding for vocational training, employment centers, economic development in local authorities throughout Israel, industrial zones, programs to integrate young Arabs into the high-tech sector, science and innovation initiatives, sports facilities, culture and planning and construction.
They argue that cuts to these areas would directly undermine the civilian tools needed to prevent young people from being drawn into crime.
The alternative framework proposed by the committee stipulates that, after exhausting budget surpluses and protecting core programs, a limited diversion of up to approximately 200 million shekels (about $66 million) could be considered, primarily from funds for which government ministries have not yet developed implementation plans.
According to the proposal, combining this amount with existing budget surpluses would provide approximately 400 million shekels (about $132 million) to fund a pilot crime-fighting program for more than a year, without significantly harming the development plans of Arab society.
According to the mayors, any expansion of Shin Bet operations against crime requires adequate regulation, the establishment of appropriate areas of authority and oversight mechanisms before budgetary decisions are made. They demand that any decision with such broad implications be made in cooperation with local government and not through a unilateral move.
Also recently, the Mossawa Center, an advocacy organization representing Arab citizens in Israel, appealed to the prime minister and the attorney general, calling for the suspension of the proposed budget diversion. In its letter, the center further argued that the decision violates the principle of equality, contradicts previous government commitments and could ultimately deepen the social and economic disparities that have directly contributed to violence and crime in Arab society for years.
The center noted that last month, the acting director general of the Prime Minister’s Office committed that any discussion of budget diversions would take place only in the final quarter of the fiscal year. Despite this, the proposal was advanced without a structured review and without a thorough assessment of its potential consequences.
Suha Salman-Mousa, executive director of the center, said that “the government’s conduct is marked by bad faith, extreme unreasonableness, and arbitrariness, alongside an abuse of power, a breach of a government commitment and harm to the right to equality.” Salman-Mousa added that the center is considering petitioning the High Court of Justice if the proposal is approved.
Sharp criticism has also emerged from leading researchers and academics. Dr. Nasreen Haj-Yahya, a senior researcher and co-CEO of the Na’am Women’s Movement in Israel, which focuses on integration and social mobility in Arab society, told Haaretz that “anyone with common sense realizes that crime can’t be eradicated through security and technological measures alone while neglecting the economy, employment and the future of young people.” She added that weakening the growth engines of Arab society would only deepen the crisis and perpetuate a cycle of violence.
Separately from the budget dispute, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel appealed this week to the attorney general, the Shin Bet chief and the police commissioner following an announcement by the Israel Police that the Shin Bet had participated in an operation targeting crime in Arab society in the Galilee region. The appeal argued that the move represents an expansion of the Shin Bet’s involvement in combating crime in Arab society, although addressing civilian crime does not fall within the agency’s legal mandate or statutory duties.
“The Shin Bet’s involvement in the fight against crime in Arab society exceeds its authority and is expected to severely harm the fundamental rights of the entire Arab public,” attorney Elsa Bonia wrote in the appeal. “This is particularly concerning given that organized crime in Jewish society is routinely handled by the police through standard criminal enforcement tools.”
According to Bonia, “the insistence of many government officials on integrating the Shin Bet into this effort constitutes a cynical exploitation of the crime crisis in Arab society and the distress of Arab citizens, after years in which the police have neglected this issue, and requires immediate restraint.”
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