Only I Buy: The Family That Took Over Apartments in Ramla and Extorted Realtors and an Elderly Woman

A serious indictment has been filed against Ismail Abu Ghanem and six of his family members, suspected of taking over apartments in Ramla through violence, threats, and extortion. The defendants threatened an 82-year-old woman, realtors, and apartment owners, registered properties in family members' names, and laundered millions of shekels.

The Central District Attorney's Office has filed a serious indictment against Ismail Abu Ghanem and six of his family members for systematically taking over apartments in Ramla using violence, threats, and extortion. According to the indictment, Abu Ghanem devised a criminal plan to take over apartments near his home. He approached an 82-year-old woman who wanted to sell her apartment and told her: "You cannot sell, only I buy." He threatened that if she did not sell to him, she would not be able to sell to anyone else. To intimidate a realtor, Abu Ghanem told him that he had "smashed the car of another realtor" who tried to sell a house, and that realtor was "beaten and needed medical treatment." During this period, car arsons, stone throwing, and fence breaking occurred near the woman's home, forcing her to sell the apartment on Abu Ghanem's terms. In another case, the defendants threatened a person that they would "take it from him by force" and attacked occupants with a stick, kicks, and blows. Additionally, the defendants are charged with money laundering of millions of shekels through family bank accounts and a meat business in Or Yehuda, which fraudulently obtained loans and transferred them to Abu Ghanem.