Government blamed for inaction as Arab Israeli murder rate climbs

As the murder rate in Israel’s Arab sector continues to rise, leaders of the Arab minority are calling for a change. Violence in the community has become a major national concern, and much of the Arab population lives in fear of being caught up in the violence.

According to Aman Center, an Arab organization that works to combat violence and crime, 45 Arab Israelis were killed in the first quarter of 2024, among them 42 male victims and three female victims. That number is up from 38 victims during the same period in 2023.

Local leaders say many Arab Israelis now avoid leaving their homes at night so as not to be targeted.

Many Arab citizens blame the steep spike in violence on the failures of the Israeli police. Sheikh Kamel Rayan, head of the Aman Center and former mayor of the Arab village of Kafr Bara, told The Media Line that “time is running out” to address the crime wave and that the government must take the lead.

“Our community is in a profound internal crisis,” Rayan said.

According to the Abraham Initiatives, a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting coexistence between Arabs and Jews in Israel, 75% of murders in Israel’s Arab sector are connected to organized crime. The remaining murders are attributable to tribal blood feuds, femicides involving family members, and general criminal activity.

Thabet Abu Rass, co-executive director of the Abraham Initiatives, told The Media Line that violence is plaguing Israel’s Arab communities and that the government has failed to produce a “real, implementable” plan to tackle the surge in crime.

Civil society groups call on government action 

“The government’s actions are insufficient, and more should be done,” Abu Rass said. “It is the responsibility of the government to act and stop what has been taking place for years now.”

He said a lack of adequate policing has created a “vacuum” in Israel’s Arab community.

“What we are dealing with is the result of systematic, ongoing discrimination and neglect by all of Israel’s governments, including the current one,” he said.

Abu Rass said that the current crime rate results from a policy failure relating to Israel’s Arab citizens, including “failure in policing and failure in government planning regarding housing, and creating job opportunities, and education.”

Homicides in Israel’s Arab sector more than doubled from 2022 to 2023, increasing from 109 to 233. Some 92% of those murders remain unsolved.

Wael Awwad, a Palestinian journalist from Nazareth, told The Media Line that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “solely” responsible for the situation.

“This is happening under his authority,” Awwad said. “He’s been around for many years and he has done nothing to remedy this epidemic. Absolutely nothing.”

In recent years, the government has increased the number of police units patrolling the streets and erected new police stations in many towns.

For Awwad, that is not enough.

Arab citizens make up about 20% of Israel’s population. Many speak fluent Hebrew and also identify as Palestinian. But they say they feel like second-class citizens and claim Israeli authorities treat crimes against them less seriously than those against Jewish Israelis.

“It’s obvious that the government isn’t serious about fighting crime in our communities,” Awwad said. “We have not seen any real plans to combat crime and go after gangs like it did in Jewish communities.”

Powerful Arab criminal groups proliferate in Arab towns and cities, many of which demand protection money from residents.

Additionally, according to government data, 400,000 illegal weapons are circulating in Israel. Local leaders say weapons are readily available in their communities for the right price.

Siham Eghbariyeh, a resident of the Arab city of Umm el-Fahm in central Israel, lost her husband and two of her children to crime. Their deaths “didn’t need to happen,” she told The Media Line.

“This bloodshed must end,” she said. “I’m devoting my life to ensuring no mother or wife has to go through what I went through. This will take efforts from all to stop crime in our communities. We deserve better.”