A View to a Kill - About Crime and Violence in Arab Society

Social activist, conflict-resolution expert, and political commentator. Holds an M.A. degree in conflict-resolution from the University of Haifa as well as an M.A. degree in public administration from the University of Hartford. He is currently a strategy manager at Givat Haviva — the Center for a Shared Society, as well as a research-fellow on behalf of the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, studying the status of national minorities in Europe. Additionally, he serves as a research-fellow at the Hartman Institute, and is a member of the Darkenu organization’s board of directors.

In the past, he held various political positions in the ranks of the Arab Democratic Party, served as Co-Director of the Abraham Initiatives Foundation, and led several projects, amongst which integrating women in fields of employment and integrating Arab teachers in the Hebrew education system. He also served as a member on a policy-recommendations committee for education towards a shared society, as well as on a strategic-planning committee of the Authority for the Economic Development of the Minority Sector.

Professor of Political Science at the Hebrew University. Licensed to practice law, IDF major (retired). Served as head of the Department of Political Science at the Hebrew University between 2015-2017, as president of the Association for Israel Studies (AIS) between 2013-2015, as president of the Israeli Law and Society Association between 1998-2000 and 2007-2009, and as chairman of the international research committee for political financing and corruption – under the umbrella of the International Political Science Association (IPSA).

He served as both a visiting lecturer and research fellow at the Universities of Berkeley, UCLA, University of California in Irvine, the University of Florida, Paris Nanterre University, the Moscow University, and the University of Sydney. His list of publications includes studies on law and security policy in democratic regimes, politics and law, and the financing of parties and electoral systems.

The publications concerning law and society primarily attend to politics and law, and, more specifically, to what motivates different groups in Israeli society — including Knesset members, groups of interest, army individuals, Palestinians living in the territories, Palestinian collaborators who have been rehabilitated in Israel — turn to the legal system as a central channel for achieving both political and personal goals.

Mohammed Wattad (LL.B., LL.M., JSD) is an Associate Professor and the Dean of Law at Zefat Academic College; senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel-Aviv University, a research-fellow at the Institute for Anti-Terrorism Policy at the Reichman University, and a research-fellow at the University of Haifa’s Minerva Center for the Rule of Law Under Extreme Situations.

He serves as a visiting-lecturer in other faculties and law schools both in Israel and abroad. Most of Prof. Wattad’s research deals with the comparative and international aspects of criminal law, the comparative aspects of constitutional law, international law, laws of war, laws of torture, laws of terrorism, professional ethics, health and law, and the interrelationship between law and political science — especially in respect of the independence of the judicial system, the principle of the rule of law, as well as to other issues concerning the Arab minority in Israel.

Director of the Aman Center — the Arab Center for a Safe Society, whose main concern attends to dealing with violence and crime in Arab society.

He holds an M.A. degree in public law from the Faculty of Law at Tel-Aviv University and Northwestern University in Chicago, is currently advancing towards a PhD in public law, and is a graduate of the Mandel School for Educational Leadership. His fields of interest are: public and constitutional law, policing, law enforcement, political and legal theory, secularism and traditionalism, and social and political transformations in the Arab expanse.

Social, feminist, and political activist, co-CEO of Tsofen — High Tech Centers, and co-chairwoman of the board of directors of the NGO Sikkuy-Aufoq organization. For many years, Jaljuli has been both active in and led struggles in a variety of fields: namely, employee rights, women’s rights, the struggle against the occupation, and the struggle for a shared and egalitarian society in Israel.

She served as Na’amat chairwoman in the Southern Triangle region, as well as the chairwoman of Na’amat’s Hadash faction. She also served as a board-member in the National Council for Road Safety, as well as in Itach Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice. Jaljuli is a member of the “Standing Together” movement’s coordination team. She holds a B.A. degree in criminology and sociology, as well as an M.A. degree in educational leadership.

19 years old, from Tur’an. First-year Information Systems student at the Yezreel Valley Academic College. For the past 4 years, Mahmoud has been active in the Ajyal youth movement. He is a national instructor and guide in the Tur’an movement, and has graduated from the Sanabel Institute for Young Leadership, associated with the Ajyal movement.

For the past 40 years, she has been active in both the Arab society and the city of Shafaram in the fields of community and society as well as women’s rights. For the past 11 years, she has served as consultant for the advancement of women’s status in the municipality of Shfar’am, and has operated for many years in the fight for both equal rights for women and the development of economic independence for women in Arab society. She is active in the fight against crime and violence in Arab society, and predominantly the violence directed at women.

Khnefess is the mother of Johara, Rasha, Firas, and Bashar. In June 2022, her daughter Johara was killed by an explosive device attached to her car. As of writing these lines, the killer has not yet been captured and the murder has not been solved. Khnefess continues her path fighting against crime and violence, does not give up the right to know the truth or the need to apprehend and prosecute those responsible for her daughter’s murder, and she even furthers her activities alongside many mothers and activists fighting against the rampant crime amid Arab society.

Educator and politician, serving as mayor of Umm al-Fahm since 2018, holding a PhD in genetic plant engineering, former director of the “Al Ahlia” school in Umm al-Fahm, and a lecturer at Al-Qasemi Academic College. As mayor, Mahamid signed the first general framework agreement of an Arab locality with the Ministry of Construction and Housing in August 2021, following over 30 such agreements in the Jewish society.

Under his leadership, the municipality prepared a comprehensive municipal plan to eradicate violence in December 2021, a unique plan, and first of its kind amid Arab society. He is also a member of the Maoz program, a prestigious program for both the development and the networking of senior leaders.

Consultant and expert on Bedouin culture in the Negev. Has been working with the Bedouin society in both the Sinai Peninsula and the Negev since 1973. He is currently a social consultant and a planning and development assistant for the Bedouin authorities in the Negev.

Samah Salaime holds both a B.A. and an M.A. degrees in social work, majoring in the organization and supervision of women’s internship, both from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is a graduate of the Mandel Institute for Educational Leadership, and during her studies specialized in gender mainstreaming the education system. She has founded and managed the center for female Arab youths in Ramla, the Lod community center, as well as the Issawiya culture, youth, and sports center in Jerusalem. In 2009, following a wave of murders of women in central cities in Israel, she founded the “Na’am” association: Arab Women in the Center.

This constitutes the first feminist association in the central region dedicated to Arab women, as well as to advancing the status of women in the cities of Ramla, Lod, and Jaffa. Salaime lives with her family in the Jewish-Arab community of Neve Shalom, manages foregin relations in the Wahat Al-Salam educational association, promoting education for living together and peace, and she serves as Neve Shalom’s representative in the regional council plenum of Mate Yehuda. She writes and publishes op-eds and commentaries in both the Hebrew and Arabic press, and has a regular blog in both Sicha Mekomit (Local Call) and in the ‘+972’ magazine.

She writes about feminist issues both in Israel and around the world, and focuses on Arab-Jewish relations and common struggles.