Following an emergency meeting between Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) and the head of the police a joint statement was released.
"During the briefing the Police Command presented to the Minister of Internal Security the preparation the police have taken to deal with the recent incidents and actions. At the end of the briefing a number of operational steps were decided upon including the increase in operations in certain areas that will include hundreds of police officers, and increased operations by the national unit, Lahav 433. a new special units tasked with dealing with violent incidents in Arab society will be created. The unit will also target general crime in the Arab society. Their focus will be on operations in areas with particularly high levels of violence. In addition the Unit for Combating Economic Crime will increase their administrative work and emphasis on keeping the law In areas were crime families in Arab society are active and they will take all prevention methods to prevent incidents.
Border Police Reserve Units will be recruited in said areas to reinforce operations in the field.
There will be an increase in the handling of serious traffic offenses in the Arab communities with emphasis on traffic offenders along with increased intelligence efforts to prevent further incidents and criminal activity."
A further statement released by Minister Erdan said: "The situation in the Arab sector is an emergency situation. I have instructed the police to fight violence in the Arab sector just as it combats terrorism and by using all the means possible. I urge the Arab leadership to rise above our differences, to join the fight and work with the police and together with me to achieve the required change in Arab communities. We must make enforcement changes along with cultural ones.
In order to increase the deterrence in general we will initiate a meeting with the President of the Supreme Court and the Attorney General and ask them to implement a far more serious punishment policy for those that break the law and cause significant violence in the Arab communities."