{"id":268246,"date":"2026-02-01T05:28:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:28:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268246\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T05:28:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T05:28:08","slug":"arab-jewish-protesters-turn-out-in-record-numbers-for-tel-aviv-anti-crime-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/268246\/","title":{"rendered":"Arab, Jewish protesters turn out in record numbers for Tel Aviv anti-crime protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tens of thousands of Arab and Jewish protesters turned out in Tel Aviv Saturday night for a massive rally, accusing the government of neglecting its Arab citizens and allowing violence to run rampant in the community.<\/p>\n

The unprecedented demonstration in Habima Square briefly united Israel\u2019s overwhelmingly Jewish anti-government protest movement with the country\u2019s Arab citizens, increasingly vocal in the face of pervasive crime.<\/p>\n

The crowd was a highly unusual mix of Arab families and regular protesters against the current right-wing government. Organizers estimated that some 40,000 Jewish and Arab protesters were in attendance.<\/p>\n

Near the front of the demonstration, a grey-haired man wearing a shirt from the reservist protest group \u201cBrothers in Arms\u201d stood near a woman with a keffiyeh draped over her shoulders.<\/p>\n

Further into the crowd, a group of teenagers could be seen chanting in Arabic: \u201cHey police, hey police, Arab blood isn\u2019t cheap,\u201d to a rhythm set by Jewish drummers.<\/p>\n

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Protesters waved black flags, which have become the chief symbol of the burgeoning movement against crime in Arab communities. Other signs read in English, \u201cArab Lives Matter,\u201d in an homage to the US-based Black Lives Matter movement.<\/p>\n

The rally was organized by the High Follow-Up Committee, the leading body for Arab citizens of Israel, in an effort to capture the attention of the Jewish public and win support for Arab society\u2019s struggle against organized crime.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tArab and Jewish demonstrators protest at demonstration against crime and government neglect in Tel Aviv\u2019s Habima Square on January 31, 2026. Charlie Summers\/Times of Israel)<\/p>\n

The struggle has picked up over the past two weeks, after a local strike in the northern city of Sakhnin, sparked by a businessowner whose shops had been targeted in extortion-related shootings, spread out to Arab locales throughout the country.<\/p>\n

Speaking from onstage, Sakhnin\u2019s mayor Mazen Ghnaim said that \u201cwe want personal security,\u201d after 27 Arab citizens fell victim to homicide in the past month alone. Last year was the deadliest year on record for Arab society in Israel, with 252 killed in crime-related violence.<\/p>\n

Many demonstrators came to Tel Aviv on buses chartered by municipal authorities in Arab cities and towns. The protest followed the same route as most anti-government and hostage deal protests in recent years, beginning outside the Tel Aviv Museum and ending at Habima Square.<\/p>\n

Police blocked off roads and erected metal fencing around the perimeter of Habima Square, but were not entirely successful in preventing counterprotesters from infiltrating the area. One disgruntled man came into the area waving an Israeli flag and arguing with attendees, before he was escorted away by a police officer.<\/p>\n

Later on Saturday night, after most protesters had dispersed, right-wing activists came to harass rallygoers. Police said they arrested an Arab demonstrator, a 26-year-old from Baqa al-Gharbiyye, allegedly for threatening to pepper-spray one of the counterprotesters.<\/p>\n

Though Arab and liberal Jewish MKs attended the protest, no current politicians spoke from the main stage, since organizers sought to keep the demonstration at a distance from party politics.<\/p>\n

Instead, High Follow-Up Committee chairman Jamal Zahalka spoke, accusing the state of \u201cfueling crime organizations and criminals who murder, extort and threaten.\u201d<\/p>\n

The speech marked a rare instance in which Zahalka, a former Balad MK, addressed a large Jewish audience. He even led the crowd in a Hebrew chant:\u201cEnough of the violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tArab-Israeli community leader Jamal Zahalka speaks at a protest against violence in the Arab community, in Tel Aviv on January 31, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/Flash90)<\/p>\n

Zahalka called the massive demonstration a \u201ccry against crime and against the government feeding it\u201d and declared that \u201cit is time to cancel the silent agreement between the police and criminal organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe false and racist argument that this [crime] is a cultural problem is not new,\u201d he said, claiming the same argument has been used against Mizrahi Jews in Israel, as well as Black Americans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis argument collapses with a simple comparison\u2026 socially and culturally, we [Arab Israelis] are very similar to the West Bank and Jordan, where the number of murders is less than one for every 100,000 people,\u201d he said. Meanwhile, among Israel\u2019s Arab citizens, the homicide rate is over 15 for every 100,000 people.<\/p>\n

Zahalka blamed law enforcement for the sky-high rate, accusing police of practicing a \u201cpolicy of deadly restraint\u201d when it comes to crime in Arab society.<\/p>\n

He also decried National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as the \u201cminister of crime,\u201d and was met with enthusiastic agreement from the crowd, which jeered the far-right politician\u2019s name.<\/p>\n

Zahalka ended his speech with a series of demands, urging law enforcement to break up criminal organizations, round up guns from off the streets and solve murder cases in Arab society.<\/p>\n

Speaking to The Times of Israel, The Democrats lawmaker Gilad Kariv said Arab and liberal Jewish groups are united in ousting the current coalition, particularly National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who oversees law enforcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a joint demand from [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu to fire [Itamar] Ben Gvir, and because we know that he\u2019s not going to do it, our demand is to replace this racist government,\u201d Kariv said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a mother in Umm al-Fahm or Sakhnin feels [too] insecure to allow her child to go to the playground in the afternoon, it means we cannot be safe and feel secure here in Tel Aviv,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

\t\"\"<\/a>
\n\t\tThousands attend a protest against organized crime in the Arab community and call on the state to do more to stop it, in Tel Aviv. January 31, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel\/FLASH90)<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Hadash-Ta\u2019al chairman Ayman Odeh said that the protest must serve as a \u201cturning point\u201d to unite Jewish and Arab Israelis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis should be a turning point, another important building block for the common struggles of Jewish and Arab society,\u201d he told The Times of Israel while picking up trash left in the plaza after the demonstration.<\/p>\n

Odeh said the demonstration could mark the start of Arab participation in protests against Israel\u2019s current right-wing government.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is also an opportunity to call on Arab citizens to partake in protests against the coup,\u201d referring to the judicial overhaul, and more broadly, the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s coalition. \u201cThis is a common struggle for all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tens of thousands of Arab and Jewish protesters turned out in Tel Aviv Saturday night for a massive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-268246","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-israel","8":"tag-il","9":"tag-israel","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=268246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}