When the shots rang out, the young soccer player was in line at a butcher’s shop in an Arab town in northern Israel. A talented midfielder, Nabil Hayek, 19, was one of four people injured in the assault in late July, victims of a surge of gun violence within Israel’s Arab communities, much of it linked to loan-sharking and protection rackets run by Arab crime organizations. These gangs have proliferated over the years, preying on a population that has long faced discrimination and has limited access to bank loans. Many people have no option but to take loans from the gangs and are at their mercy when they come to collect. Unemployed young men are also lured by easy money into becoming gang foot soldiers and enforcers.

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Persons: Nabil Hayek, Benjamin Netanyahu Locations: Israel