The decapitated head of Rabia Araidi was discovered in the Bedouin town of Basmat Tab’un in northern Israel, according to police reports earlier today (Thursday.) Araidi, 43, was the son of the late Naim Araidi, a Druze author and diplomat who served as Israel's ambassador to Norway and Iceland from 2012 to 2014. A passerby found the severed head, while the rest of the remains were located in the Zalmon stream.
Initial findings suggest that the gruesome murder was a result of a criminal dispute. The police official described the scene as reminiscent of the photos depicting massacres by the Islamic State.
The Abraham Initiatives, an organization that promotes coexistence, stated that Araidi's murder marked the 92nd Arab homicide since the beginning of 2024 with only 12 cases being resolved. This is compared to 102 during the same period in 2023, which was considered the bloodiest year for the community.
So far no suspects have been arrested though police suspect that Araidi's was abducted from his residence in Maghar, a city in the Lower Galilee, and subsequently murdered. His murder is believed to be linked to various criminal organizations and an ongoing dispute that has been going on between them, which has resulted in the loss of 15 lives in the past two years. Despite the alarming number of fatalities, only two cases have led to arrests, the rest remain unresolved.
Several innocent bystanders were among the victims. Investigations have revealed that in certain instances, the perpetrators failed to reach their intended targets and instead killed their relatives.
Following Araidi's murder, an online message allegedly from "criminal organizations" circulated, stating, "We warned you to sever ties with the criminal organization. We killed him after he started making threats and betrayals."
