Chilling threats at Merhavim High School in Negev: "Death is approaching" graffiti found  

Israeli authorities have launched an urgent investigation after threatening Arabic graffiti reading "Death is approaching" was discovered in three locations at Merhavim High School in Israel’s Merhavim Regional Council on Thursday morning.

The disturbing messages have prompted heightened security measures, with both the police and the Shin Bet treating the incident with utmost severity. Shai Hajaj, head of the regional council and chairman of the Regional Government Center, assured the public that the matter is being handled at the highest level, emphasizing that such threats will not be tolerated.

This is not the first time that the Merkhavim region has had to deal with nationalist crime from their Arab neighbors. The region is close to the Bedouin areas of the Negev, only 10 km from the Bedouin town of Rahat. It is also very close to the Gaza border.

Several years ago, Shai Hajaj sent a letter in which he recounts a series of recent burglaries and thefts and demands assistance. "For many years, the residents of Merhavim have been dealing with the security threats posed by our neighbor, Gaza. However, as you probably know, in the past year the residents have been dealing with another security front – on the internal front." Hagag sent the letter to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, Acting Police Commissioner Bentzi Sau, Southern District Police Chief Yoram Halevi and Border Police Commander Amos Yaakov.

"Every evening and every night, break-ins are recorded in the homes of residents in Moshav Merhavim, and a lot of equipment is stolen," Hagag describes in his letter. "Usually, burglars break into homes with family members inside. There is no need to elaborate on how much the residents' lives have become a nightmare and how great the danger is."

"According to the information provided to us by the Israel Police, the gangs of thieves come to us from neighboring villages, and from the Hebron area – where there are breaches in the fence – breaches known to all, through which undocumented immigrants cross the border and even led to the death of a resident of Susiya in pursuit of them, and an IDF officer was beaten by the undocumented workers." Hajaj added, "We have been informed by security sources that the existing barrier in the area of the eastern seam line is not capable of preventing the entry of workers from the territories into the country, and we are talking about a number of 2,500-3,000 undocumented workers who pass through the country every week."

Hagag notes that in some of the localities, residents managed to raise the sum to erect fences, cameras and security vehicles, and there was a decrease of about 90% in the number of criminals.