Three out of four murder victims in Israel are Arab, police data reveals

Despite making up 21% of Israel's population, the Arab public has made up 73% of murder victims in recent years. According to data published at the request of the Association for Freedom of Information, between 2018 and 2023, 712 of the 981 people murdered were Arab, Ynet reported on Thursday.

This new police data addressed how these numbers grow every year, what areas are prone to disasters, and what can be learned about the identity of the female victims.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic and extensive lockdowns, 2020 still showed a rise in Arab murders from previous years. 

An unusual decrease was recorded in 2022 -- when the Bennett-Lapid government began the implementation of their plan to eradicate crime in Arab society -- and the number of murdered people dropped slightly. However, this has not been the case since the return of the Netanyahu government, with Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir at the helm—the number of people murdered in Arab society in 2024 stands at 149 as of August 23.

The police data for the years 2018-2023 also showed the distribution of murder cases in Arab society throughout Israel. Of the 229 murders committed in the northern region, 134 were committed in Haifa alone. Additionally, the report showed 176 people in the central region, 44 in the south, 36 in Jerusalem, and 31 in Tel Aviv. 61 cases were found to have been committed in non-specified locations -- mostly intercity roads -- and one incident in which an Arab citizen was murdered in the West Bank.

"It is not surprising that the mixed cities star on this list," said Shahira Shelbi, joint CEO of the "Abraham Initiative," a non-profit organization that works for integration and equality between Jews and Arabs in Israel. "The Arab population in these cities suffers from neglect and discrimination. The education and housing systems are not good and crime is not new there. We know that the crime families grew out of these cities. At first they were part of the Jewish crime families and over the years they became independent."

According to the report, most of those murdered in Arab society in 2018-2023 were men, standing at 630. However, The 82 Arab women who were murdered during this period also illustrate the gap from Jewish society, during which only 56 women were murdered.

The area where the most Arab women were murdered was the north of Israel -- 26 victims, 15 of them from Haifa. The only locality within the northern district that had more female victims than men was in Nof HaGalil - three female victims against one male.

In central Israel, 23 women were murdered during these years, as well as an additional six women in the south of the country.

"The number of murdered women in Arab society has increased in recent years, even though we are encountering less and less cases of murder that were once defined 'on the grounds of family honor' as was the custom in the past," Shelby explained. "We used to see cases where a man murdered his partner, for example due to a divorce dispute, but that has changed. Today, instead of the partner murdering them, he hires a killer for a few thousand shekels to do it."

"Sometimes it's a woman who took a loan and couldn't pay it back, sometimes it's revenge murders or conveying a message. That is, the daughter or wife of the person who owes money is murdered. And there are also women who were murdered after they themselves entered the circle of crime. A woman who deals in drugs or weapons can be eliminated like any other A man engaged in a similar activity."

The Israel Police stated: The focus of dealing with violence and crime in Arab society is expressed in the removal from society of dozens of targets, including members of criminal organizations, through arrests until the end of the proceedings, actual prison sentences, illegal seizures and property seizures. Investigations of murder cases are conducted for the sake of public peace and security, regardless of the origin and religion of the victim. At the same time, dealing with violence in Arab society is not the property of the police alone, and only a deep-rooted change that will come from within Arab society in Israel - in education, culture, cooperation with the police, denouncing invalid norms and active actions by the leadership - will lead to the desired change.