Extortion Gang Opens Fire on Businesses in Sakhnin Amid Mass Protests
An extortion gang opened fire on businesses in Sakhnin, prompting widespread strikes and protests led by MK Mansour Abbas against government inaction on crime.
For the past three months, an extortion gang in Sakhnin has been terrorizing local business owners every weekend. Early Sunday morning, two members of the gang arrived at a commercial center in the city and opened fire unhindered at three businesses that refuse to pay protection money, including a health fund clinic.
Earlier this year, Arab leadership announced a general strike across Arab localities to protest the state's inadequate handling of violence and crime, which includes shootings at businesses, threats, extortion, and protection rackets. Thousands of businesses in the sector, schools, and local authorities participated in the strike, with tens of thousands marching from Sakhnin to a protest outside the Misgav police station.
MK Mansour Abbas, chairman of the Ra'am party, addressed the fierce protest, calling it the largest demonstration in the history of Arab society in Israel. Abbas attacked the government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, stating that the state has abandoned the lives of children and that the current government bears sole responsibility for the control wielded by criminal organizations.
Medical teams at hospitals in Nazareth and Haifa joined the protests to show solidarity, while the Abraham Initiatives organization praised the widespread strike, emphasizing that the fight against crime and police negligence is a shared societal challenge rather than an issue confined solely to the Arab sector.
