WATCH: Bedouin Fire Illegal Weapons In Negev Training Practice, MK Almog Cohen: ‘This Is Subversion’

JERUSALEM (VINnews) — The scene resembles a movie clip from a war movie shot in the desert. A man jumps out of a car and precedes to charge while firing from an automatic weapon.

However the scene is not surreal at all – it is very real and was shot in Israel’s Wild South – an area where the Bedouin are more or less free to do as they please, an area where marijuana fields grow in empty desert lots and where illegal weapons are freely displayed and used.

MK Almog Cohen (Jewish Force) hopes to put an end to the anarchy in the region, since it is not just a regional threat but a national issue. Bedouin extort protection payments from businesses in the area, smuggle drugs and weapons into Israel and sell them, sometimes even to terrorist elements. They also illegally occupy state lands and steal agricultural produce from Jewish farmers in the Negev, as well as weapons and equipment from IDF bases in the region. Within the Bedouin clans, there are constant violent clashes and feuds leading to numerous annual casualties. In April, a Bedouin terrorist murdered 4 Israelis in a terror attack in Be’er Sheva.

More worryingly, Bedouin display openly their illegal weaponry and could feasibly use the arms against police attempting to enforce the law. Cohen writes that this is “subversive activity against the state of Israel and its sovereignty. We will act harshly in the new government against these terrorists.”

Cohen’s party colleague Yitzchak Wasserlauf has received the ministry overseeing the Negev and Galil and aims to

בדואים מתאמנים בשטחי הנגב על הסתערות מתוך רכב. מה שרואים בסרטון זה פעילות חתרנית נגד מדינת ישראל ושלמותה, נפעל ביד קשה בממשלה החדשה כנגד הטרוריסטים הללו. pic.twitter.com/pvonear7Cz

— אלמוג כהן (@almog_cohen08) December 3, 2022