The mayor of the Arab town of Arraba in northern Israel was shot and wounded Sunday evening, March 8, in an attack Hadash believe is linked to criminal activity regarding municipal tenders. Mayor Dr. Ahmad Nassar and Dr. Anwar Yassin, a leading Hadash activist, the city’s deputy mayor who also serves as the head of its popular committee, both sustained moderate injuries in the ambush, according to medical sources.
A masked man points his gun at Arraba mayor Dr. Ahmad Nassar and his deputy, Dr. Anwar Yassin (left), who are dining with others at a restaurant, and then opens fire, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (Screenshot from security cameras)
Footage of the shooting picked up by a security camera showed Nassar, Yassin and several other men sitting and chatting at a table in Taksim Bakery, located on the city’s main street. Seconds passed before a masked man entered the shop with a handgun. The table got up in a panic after realizing what was going on. The assailant shot several times at the men as they tried to take cover. Nassar is seen falling over into a table after being shot, covering his head as the gunman flees the scene.
The city’s popular committee — a local body in many Arab towns that coordinates between residents and municipal leadership, often taking the lead on organizing protests — decried the incident as a “grave criminal act and “unacceptable attack on public figures who work to serve the city’s people.”
Hadash and the Communist Party of Israel condemned the criminal attack, saying the violence in Arab society had “crossed a red line” by targeting a public official “who are in front of the struggle against gangs with the support of the authorities.” “This is not only an Arab problem, is what collapse looks like,” Hadash and CPI said in a common statement.
In addition, a young man succumbed to his wounds on Sunday after being shot and severely injured in Jaffa last week, police said. The victim, Mahmoud Daqqa, was taken to Holon’s Wolfson Medical Center after assailants opened fire to him on Wednesday. According to Abraham Initiatives, since the beginning of the year, 63 members of the Arab community have been killed in violent criminal incidents. The high death toll follows the minority’s bloodiest year to date, which saw 252 violent killings over the course of 2025.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33240
