A prominent Israeli judge has been killed in an incident which authorities say is likely a crime-related shooting linked to the country's powerful organised mafia.
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Azar's killing may be the latest target in a spate of killings related to the "mafia warfare" in Israel which has claimed dozens of people in the past few months.
Most of the killings are blamed on the powerful Russian mafia which maintains strong connections with Moscow-based mafias.
An Israeli journalist told Aljazeera.net that the Russian mafia in Israel has "clandestine working relations with influential people in the government and the industry."
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An Israeli lawyer blamed the government for devoting all "our energies and capabilities to persecuting and tormenting the Palestinians while giving the mafia a free rein to act as they wish in our streets."
"I think this is just one example of the price we are paying for what we are doing to the Palestinians. The sort of things we are doing to the Palestinians are finally haunting us," said Ada Ravon, who monitors the abuses carried out by Israeli occupation forces of Palestinian civilians at checkpoints and roadblocks.
She pointed out that the mafia has been responsible for a series of criminal incidents in Israel's urban centres in recent months, including car-bombings, bomb-explosions and mock shootings which killed and injured numerous Israelis.
The Russian mafia is believed to be heavily involved in a host of underworld activities, including money laundering, drug trafficking and the sex industry.
Israel is still considered the primary country dealing in the so-called white slave trade, with thousands of young girls from Russia, Ukraine and the Baltic republics lured to Israel every year and end up working as prostitutes in Israel.
