Acamol for a protection racket victim: "If you pay once, they never leave you alone"

A visit to Sakhnin reveals the extent of the protection racket terror in Arab society: business owners are forced to close their businesses after extortion, shootings, and threats, while the police and government fail to address the crime. Oded Shalom's report describes how the city, once a bustling commercial center, becomes a ghost town after dark, and presents the Finance Minister's compensation initiative as a cynical attempt to compensate for the failure of Minister Ben Gvir.

Oded Shalom's report for Ynet presents a grim visit to Sakhnin, a city of 35,000 residents in the Galilee, which has become a symbol of the government and police's failure in combating crime in Arab society. The report focuses on the rampant phenomenon of protection money (protektzia), which forces business owners to close their businesses after extortion, shootings, and threats. It opens with the story of a pharmacist named Awad Zbeidat, who refused to pay 150-200 thousand shekels in protection money, and in response, his pharmacy was shot at with over 50 bullets, and he himself was wounded in the legs by masked gunmen. It then describes additional stories of business owners forced to close their businesses after threats to their lives and their families. The report sharply criticizes National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, presenting shocking crime data during his four-year tenure. It also examines Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's initiative to establish a compensation fund for business owners affected by protection racket extortion, described as a cynical attempt to compensate for the failure of his political rival, especially against the backdrop of the election campaign. The report ends with a sense of helplessness, as business owners realize they are left alone against the criminals.