The National Committee of Arab Local Authorities held an emergency meeting on Monday afternoon, May 18, announcing a strike tomorrow across all Arab local municipal institutions, excluding the education system, following last night’s shooting of Jadeidi-Makr regional council head Suhail Melhem, 50, and his deputy, Obeid Obeid, 49, as they were leaving a wedding.
Jadeidi-Makr regional council head Suhail Melhem (Photo: Flash90)
After the shooting, Hadash issued a statement: “We are shocked by the assassination attempt on Suhail Melhem and Obeid Obeid and wish them a full and speedy recovery. The shooting of council heads and elected officials, including Hadash representatives, has become routine under the bloody government of Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Ben-Gvir.” “Since the beginning of the year alone, over 100 people have been murdered in Arab society due to organized crime, while the government continues to abandon the public to crime organizations and illegal weapons,” the front added.
Hadash further emphasized: “Since racist Ben-Gvir entered the so-called ‘National Security’ Ministry, crime and fatality figures have doubled, while the government continues to neglect citizens’ personal security, particularly in Arab society. The blood spilled is a direct result of a racist, deliberate abandonment policy by this bloody government. Hadash will do everything to ensure this is its last term. Very soon, we will send this bloody government home.”
Shots were fired on May 3 in I’billin toward the local Communist Party of Israel (CPI) branch, as well as the home of the branch secretary, Yousef Heidar. According to Heidar, he received a call earlier in the evening from an unknown number demanding the removal of red flags hung at the party club to mark May Day. On past March, Arraba council head Dr. Ahmad Nassar and his deputy Dr. Anwar Yassin, a leading Hadash activist, were also shot. In June 2017, fire broke at the headquarters of the Communist Party of Israel (CPI) in the city of Arraba and the offices of the Communist Party of Israel, Hadash and Young Communist League sustained significant damage.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33276
