District Court Judge Nasser Abu Taha has requested to relocate from his home in southern Israel to northern Israel and serve as a judge there due to threats and a hostile atmosphere created by criminal elements in Arab society, i24NEWS reported Wednesday evening.
According to the report, some of the suspects and defendants whom Abu Taha has judged over the years hold him responsible for the punishments imposed on them and the "damage" they suffered as a result of his rulings. Against this background, they are demanding that his family compensate them.
The request to relocate to northern Israel was described in the report as an unprecedented step, stemming from the threats and the atmosphere that has developed around the judge in the south.
The Courts Administration responded to the report by stating, "We will not comment."
Abu Taha was appointed as a judge in 2002 after being selected by the Judicial Selection Committee, becoming Israel's first Bedouin judge.
Abu Taha completed his legal studies in Italy. He later became the first Arab to work in the Southern District Attorney's Office, where he served for seven years as a senior prosecutor.
This is not the first time Abu Taha has been threatened. His car was set on fire in 2014.