As Arab crime families battle it out, Itamar Ben Gvir’s political fate hangs in the balance 

Illustration: Sivan Schwam

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AT a low point in his career after being named a co-conspirator in Trump’s election interference indictment, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani would no doubt be happy to know that his name is being mentioned favorably during emergency deliberations between the police and the Shin Bet in Israel.

The rising crime wave in the Arab community, which has even seen mayoral candidates being gunned down, has triggered suggestions to bring back the Giuliani template for rooting out organized crime.

Police intelligence has managed to smash organized crime in the Jewish sector but has struggled to contain the same phenomenon in the Arab sector. With the Jewish crime rings, you can recruit state’s witnesses — who trust police to protect them. In the Arab sector, anyone who opens his mouth knows that he and his family won’t live to see the end of the week.

If Giuliani is invited to testify in Israel any time soon, it will be in the context of his successful record of crushing organized crime, which once held New York in a thrall that is not too different from the current state of affairs in the Arab sector.