Unidentified assailants open fire on Mustafa Sarsour as he speaks with teacher from central Arab town; union of journalists urges police to act

A local journalist from an Arab town in central Israel was shot during a live interview on Thursday.

Mustafa Sarsour, of Kafr Qasim, was interviewing a teacher on a Facebook broadcast when unidentified assailants opened fire. The sounds of gunshots and shouting can be heard in the video.

He was lightly hurt in the incident and taken to a nearby hospital.

A relative of Sarsour’s told the Ynet news site the family didn’t know who was behind the shooting.

Police opened an investigation and were gathering evidence from the scene, according to Army Radio.

We call on the Israel Police and [Public Security] Minister Omer Barlev to act to quickly arrest those responsible for what appears to be an attempted hit on journalist Mustafa Sarsour while [he was] doing his job,” the Union of Journalists in Israel said.

“We are worried about the serious harm to Sarsour and freedom of the press. This isn’t the first time that journalists from the Arab community have been harmed, with the goal of narrowing their moves,” the group added.

It remained unclear who was behind the attack or what the motive was.

The incident came amid record levels of violence in Arab communities over the past several years, which has been driven mainly, though not exclusively, by organized crime. Arab Israelis blame police, who they say have failed to crack down on powerful criminal organizations and largely ignore the violence.