"Officials have repeatedly shown they do not want to investigate the killings of Arab citizens or give their families justice," said Farah. "In the context of rampant police violence, it is likely that a few individuals at the margins of Arab society will seek their own form of vengeance."
Melhem's father is a security guard who has also served for many years as a police volunteer -- an unusual position to hold within the Palestinian minority.
He first alerted the authorities to the possibility his son was responsible for the killings after a relative identified Nashat in a security video of the shootings.
Melhem is reported to have taken the semi-automatic from his father's safe.
Nachmi Feinblatt, the family's lawyer, called the accusations against the father "crazy." "This has nothing to do with evidence of wrongdoing," he told MEE. "It is simply about using the family to put pressure on their son."
He added that the refusal of the courts to grant a 12-day detention of Melhem's father demanded by the police -- they were given two days instead -- indicated the "bogus nature of the allegations."
Student digs searchedAccording to Israeli media, dozens of Arab students, most of them registered at Tel Aviv university, have had their lodgings searched and been interrogated since the shootings.
Odeh said he was trying to find out whether Tel Aviv university had passed on the students' information.
Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, rejected criticisms that the students' rights had been violated or that the arrests of Melhem's family members were designed to pressure him.
"The bigger picture is that three Israelis were murdered and the priority in our ongoing investigations is to find him," he told MEE.
On Sunday Netanyahu said he was "not impressed" by accusations that he had incited hatred with his speech. He was "making a very large effort to ensure Israel is a state under unified law," he said.
In the wake of Netanyahu's comments, an Israeli Facebook post of a bogus video, supposedly showing the village of Arara celebrating the Tel Aviv killings, went viral. It was later shown to be footage of celebrations in Lebanon at Ariel Sharon's death two years ago.
Netanyahu was also among those calling for a crackdown on illegal weapons in Palestinian communities after the shootings, although Mohammed Melhem held his gun legally.
David Ansalem, head of the Israeli parliament's interior committee, concurred: "Illegal use is made of [weapons in Palestinian communities] every day to hurt citizens of this country." He added that police were "afraid to operate in these areas."
His comments came as another MP, Amir Ohana, said that in response to the attack he would promote legislation to allow most Jewish civilians to arm themselves with guns.
That follows a government decision in October to ease permit rules. A report last month by the Israeli legal rights groups ACRI revealed a "meteoric rise" in gun license applications, from 200 a day to 3,000, as panic has swept Israeli Jews over the knife attacks.
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