Borderline Mafia

Israel’s rampant mafia clans are a growing public menace, turning the country’s periphery into increasingly lawless zones. But the activities of one crime family with ties to Hezbollah suggest that organized crime has crossed the line to threaten national security. Is the mob too close for comfort?

ONIsrael’s northern border with Lebanon, there’s a national-security threat – and it’s not called Hezbollah.

The Abu Latif clan, a prominent Druze crime family active across the country’s north, has won an Israeli government tender to build a range of projects. These include an IDF air force training school near the border, and a section of the sensor-laden border fence itself.

Given the Abu Latif clan’s history of ties with Hezbollah, the family’s involvement in a sensitive government tender reveals a disturbing breach in security amid a growing external threat. But the revelations surrounding the clan over the last few months – accompanied by a series of large police raids to arrest figures associated with the family – highlight how dangerous Israel’s organized crime problem has become.

The saga has also pulled back the curtain on the shady world of Israeli mobsters, highlighting the shifting dynamics as Jewish and Arab clans vie for the lucrative control of entire regional industries.