The former mayor of Nazareth, the head of a powerful crime family, and 10 other defendants were accused in court on Thursday of embezzling millions of shekels from the municipality’s coffers over a decade.
The indictments filed in the Nazareth District Court constituted a major blow to one of Israel’s most notorious mafia-style crime syndicates, thought to be one of the main forces driving a rampant wave of violent crime in Israeli Arab society.
Ali Salam, Nazareth’s ex-mayor, was charged with overseeing the transfer of some NIS 61 million ($20 million) to the Bakri crime family from 2015 to 2025, via a front, a private security service called Shomrei HaGalil.
The company was given contracts by the municipality, while Salam and his associates in the municipality used false invoices and inflated working hours to transfer the large sums of money to Samir Bakri, the head of the crime family, and his accomplices, the indictment said.
Last year, the mayor allegedly tried to back out of the scheme and suspend payments to the Bakri family, but they wouldn’t allow it and began to make threats against Salam and his son.
The investigation was launched after one of the many alleged victims of the Bakri family’s extortion contacted police. He was forced to sell his home and ultimately repay his blackmailers via phony invoices from four companies that provided him no services, which also served as fronts for the crime syndicate, prosecutors said.
Suspects from the Nazareth municipality and Bakri crime family are brought to the Northern District police headquarters as part of a far-reaching investigation into the funneling of public funds to criminal elements, in footage shared by police on February 26, 2026. (Israel Police)
The organization’s checkbook was seized, among other things, from an apartment in the city, containing checks worth approximately NIS 109 million ($35 million).
The defendants were indicted in the Nazareth District Court on a litany of charges, among them fraud, breach of trust, bribery, money laundering, and extortion.
Arab society marked its deadliest year on record in 2025, with 252 people losing their lives in crime-related killings, a nearly 300% rise from 2017.
Daily protests and strikes began sweeping through the Arab community last month, part of a burgeoning struggle against rampant gang violence, which Arab leaders claim is fueled by state neglect.
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
