18-year-old shot dead in northern Israel, in 73rd murder in Arab community this year

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Mohammad Jabarin, an 18-year-old from the Galilee village of Bayada, was shot to death on Thursday while driving in the village of Musmus in Wadi Ara.

A second, unidentified 22-year-old man was with him in the car and was seriously injured. Police are investigating the incident.

Jabarin is the 73rd Israeli Arab to have been killed under criminal circumstances since the start of the year, according to the nonprofit organization Abraham Initiatives. In addition, 12 other Arabs who do not possess Israeli citizenship have been murdered in 2021. Six other Israeli Arabs were killed by the Israel Police. Eleven of the victims were women and 37 of them were under 30.

Meanwhile, two men were arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of murdering three members of the Jarushi family near Ailabun at the end of June. The police allege that Alaa and Fadi Jarushi, 23 and 26 respectively, murdered Yousef Jarushi, 58, his wife Noel, 46, and their 16-year-old daughter, Riyan, amid a long-running feud in one of Israel’s most powerful crime families.

Yousef’s brother, Zayed Jarushi is fighting for control of the family with his cousins, Hatam and Amir, who were stabbed to death in May. The two suspects are believed by police to be affiliated with Hatam.

The Rishon Letzion Magistrates Court on Wednesday extended the two suspects’ dention for 12 days.

Police believe that the victims were killed in a drive-by shooting. Shortly after the incident, a torched vehicle was found in Israel’s north with weapons inside it, apparently Kalashnikovs, which are believed to have been used in the killing.

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An acquaintance told Haaretz that Yousef Jarushi was “not a big criminal” and that “he and his wife and daughter were in the wrong place at the wrong time.” The source said that Yousef used to deal drugs and served time but that since his release from prison he had become religious and distanced himself from criminal activity.

Bedouin in origin, the Jarushis are one of Israel’s best-known crime families. Its members live in Ramle’s Jawarish neighborhood and, according to the police, the family controls businesses in Israel and abroad, including casinos. The family has for years been in conflict with other crime families, such as the Karajas, but more recently internal disputes have erupted within the family.