Maharan Mougrabi, 40, was run over and shot on Friday in Haifa and died at Rambam Medical Center on Saturday.

Security cameras showed Mougrabi was struck by a car traveling in the wrong lane as he was crossing a street. An armed man then got out of the car, shot him and drove away.

Mougrabi is then seen trying to get up but quickly falls to the ground. He crawls for a few meters then falls motionless and does not move. He was married and had a daughter.

The murder was the fifth in Haifa in the past two months.

While the NGO “Abraham Initiatives” counted Mougrabi’s death as the 95th this year in the Arab-Israeli community, others counted him as the 100th due to different criteria.

Police investigate crime scene (Credit: POLICE SPOKESMAN UNIT)

“100 Arab citizens have been murdered since the beginning of the year. 100 victims of the crime which rages without control.” MP Aida Touma-Sliman (Common List) wrote on Twitter.

השנה. .
. האחרונות?
– חיים.

– MK Aida Touma-Sliman (@AidaTuma) October 2, 2021

“For the past few months we’ve been hearing about plans, preparations and operations being carried out by the police. So how come this is the bloodiest year in recent memory? We have no patience for more than that. plans and declarations – [we] demand immediate action to save lives, ”she wrote.

“Neighborhood committees and social organizations warned the mayor and Knesset members at meetings for a year and a half of what was going to happen and nothing was done,” said Jaffer Farah, director of Mossawa Center, the Advocacy Center for Arab Citizens in Israel.

“They know how to invest millions in [Haifa] the Carmel Film Festival celebrations, and they don’t care that the only Arab theater in the city center has been closed for three years, ”he said.

“Anyone familiar with the background knows that the charlatan actions of the police have aggravated the quarrels in the neighborhoods. During the events of May, they arrested more than 200 young Arab demonstrators but released conflicting criminals knowing full well what was behind them. would take place in the streets, ”Farah continued, referring to the riots in mixed Jewish and Arab-Israeli towns during Operation Guardian of the Walls.

“National education and failing social services have deserted hundreds of families and young people at risk, who then become soldiers in this war. between the gangs in conflict, ”he said.

THIS YEAR has seen a 22% increase in illegal weapons offenses, Israel Police Commissioner Kobi Shabtai said on Thursday in a presentation to senior police officials.

Shabtai said there had been a 32% increase in arrests in the number of indictments and a 30% increase in arrests.

Some 4,732 arrests have been made since the start of the year for offenses related to possession of firearms and shooting, 92% of them in the Arab community.

430 pistols, 120 semi-automatic rifles and more than 400 rifles were seized, along with thousands of bullets and other ammunition.

Over the past year, there has been a 7% increase in extortion of “protection” money by criminal gangs, and 241 of 1,076 cases have resulted in charges, the highest number in five years.

The commissioner said police were in the right direction in tackling the illegal use of firearms, and that he will push for a bill that will require a minimum of one year in prison for people taken with illegal weapons.

Dr Thabet Abu-Ras, founding partner of the Abraham Initiatives, responded to the Commissioner’s presentation on Friday.

“Yesterday again we saw that the commissioner was talking about seizing weapons and arresting most of the young people involved in crimes, but he does not mention how many people were released after these arrests and how many of them gave lead to charges, ”he said.

“We want the police to get in the thick of it, attack all the criminal gangs and seize the guns, but what matters are the results. The results continue to be bad, [as] with this murder [of Mougrabi]. ”

“The central issue is personal safety. People are afraid to leave their homes because gunshots today are not only heard at night, but in broad daylight.”