{"id":292153,"date":"2026-02-15T05:45:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:45:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/292153\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T05:45:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:45:09","slug":"a-killing-a-day-how-a-crime-epidemic-is-spotlighting-inequality-in-israeli-society","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/292153\/","title":{"rendered":"A killing a day: How a crime epidemic is spotlighting inequality in Israeli society"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sakhnin, Israel
\n \u00a0\u2014\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n A mother shot dead outside a supermarket. A man killed after leaving a mosque. A doctor gunned down while treating patients. These shocking cases are no longer anomalies: they are the toll of a violent crime epidemic sweeping across Israel.\n <\/p>\n

\n The victims are all Palestinian citizens of Israel<\/a>. Homicides in their community have risen so dramatically that one person has been killed every day on average this year. Palestinian citizens make up 20% of the country\u2019s population, and many say the Israeli government has not only failed to curb the crime wave, but that its inaction has helped spur a cycle of violence largely perpetrated by Arab organized crime groups.\n <\/p>\n

\n The data bears out a stark inequality: Israel Police has solved just 15% of homicides in Israel\u2019s Arab communities versus 65% among Jewish Israelis, according to data from Israel\u2019s parliament, the Knesset, and Eilaf, the Center for Advancing Security in Arab Society.\n <\/p>\n

\n Palestinian citizens of Israel are descendants of those who were not expelled or forced to flee their homes<\/a> when Israel was established in 1948. They were given citizenship but lived under military rule until 1966, and many say they continue to face discrimination in Israeli society.\n <\/p>\n

\n Last year was the deadliest on record for the community, with 252 killed \u2013 the vast majority by gunfire \u2013 according to a report published by Abraham Initiatives,<\/a> a group that advances social inclusion and equal rights for Israel\u2019s Palestinian citizens.\n <\/p>\n

\n And 2026 is already off to a bloody start, with 46 killed so far, according to the group.\n <\/p>\n

\n It is a deadly reality that has raised alarm bells, with tens of thousands of the country\u2019s Palestinian citizens taking to the streets in recent weeks \u2013 joined by some Jewish Israelis \u2013 to demand government action.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cNo to killing, no to death, we want to live in justice,\u201d demonstrators chanted in Arabic at a January protest in Sakhnin, a majority Palestinian city in northern Israel, which drew tens of thousands of people.\n <\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

\n Attendees told CNN it was the largest demonstration the Arab community has seen in years, culminating a multi-day general strike from shop owners.\n <\/p>\n

\n What began there has since grown into a nationwide protest movement, with strikes and demonstrations taking place almost daily across Israel. Streets across the country were filled with a sea of black flags and water fountains were dyed red as citizens declared a \u201cnational day of disruption.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n A week after the Sakhnin strike, Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a rare visit to the city, where he met with local Arab authorities and protest organizers.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said the fight against crime and violence in the Arab community \u201cmust be at the very top of the national priorities and be addressed with the utmost determination\u201d calling it a \u201cmoral obligation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n And on Thursday, Israel\u2019s Police Commissioner Daniel Levi declared crime in the Arab community \u201ca state of national emergency\u201d and \u201can intolerable situation that must stop.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He called on other government agencies to join the police in helping address the issue.\n <\/p>\n

\n For many Palestinian citizens of Israel, those declarations ring hollow. Qasem Awad has waited for more than a year for his son\u2019s killer to be brought to justice.\n <\/p>\n

\n His son, Abdullah, a doctor from Mazra\u2019a in the western Galilee, was treating a mother and her two children at a clinic last February when a masked gunman walked in and fatally shot him at close range. He was 30 at the time.\n <\/p>\n

\n Abdullah had been filling in for another doctor that day. His father believes he was mistaken for someone else.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf you look at the Palestinian Arab community in Israel, how many are being killed daily and for no reason?\u201d Awad said. \u201cThese people have nothing to do with the world of crime. They are collateral damage, and my son is one of them.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In the days following Abdullah\u2019s death, his parents say Israel Police visited and assured them they would investigate his death and identify the perpetrator.\n <\/p>\n

\n More than a year later, the pledge remains unfulfilled, and the family says it hasn\u2019t heard from law enforcement authorities.\n <\/p>\n

\n If his son had been Jewish, Awad believes the killer would\u2019ve been arrested \u201cin an hour\u201d.\n <\/p>\n

\n Like many others in his community, Awad believes the Israeli government intentionally neglects crime perpetrated against Palestinian citizens.\n <\/p>\n

\"Members<\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt is part of a policy to divide and conquer. \u2018Let them kill each other while we sit back and relax,\u2019\u201d he said.\n <\/p>\n

\n Awad points to the speed with which Palestinian perpetrators are brought to justice in crimes against Israelis.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThe technological tools and know-how are available for them to catch the killers. But when it is affecting the Arab demographic, they no longer have the tools or the know-how?\u201d he asked.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to the Eilaf report, Palestinian citizens of Israel face \u201cselective enforcement\u201d of the law.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cOn the one hand, a tough approach towards political activity and freedom of expression<\/a>, and on the other, a soft approach towards criminals and crime,\u201d the report said.\n <\/p>\n

\n In response to a query from CNN, the Israel Police said in a statement that a \u201cthorough and complex investigation was launched\u201d following the killing of Dr. Awad, where authorities have questioned \u201cdozens of involved parties, with the aim of locating the suspects and uncovering the truth.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"Palestinian<\/p>\n

\n Data compiled by Abraham Initiatives shows that homicide cases among Palestinian citizens of Israel more than doubled in 2023<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n That was far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir\u2019s<\/a> first full year overseeing the police.\n <\/p>\n

\n Ben Gvir, who was convicted for supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism<\/a>, has rejected responsibility, instead blaming local Arab leaders for turning a \u201cblind eye\u201d to criminal activity. Last month, he said he had \u201callocated enormous resources to the fight against crime and criminal organizations.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Critics say his actions speak louder than his words. Within months of entering office, Ben Gvir cut off key funding for an anti-Arab crime initiative called \u201cStop the Bleeding,\u201d launched by the previous government. The next year, he dismissed the police official in charge of fighting crime in Arab society and put a lower-ranking official in his place.\n <\/p>\n

\n On Sunday, Ben Gvir defended the job he\u2019s done, saying on Kan Reshet Bet radio that there have been \u201cgreat successes\u201d during his tenure. \u201cI don\u2019t work for the Arabs, not just for the Arabs,\u201d he said. \u201cI work for everyone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cThere is 20% less murder in the Jewish sector, let\u2019s put that on the table \u2026 60% fewer murders of Jewish women, and 20% fewer car thefts.\u201d Ben Gvir said crime in the Arab sector is a \u201cgrave phenomenon\u201d and he intends to \u201ccombat it.\u201d But he blamed the Attorney General, with whom he has had an ongoing feud, and \u201c40 years of neglect\u201d from authorities for the surge, despite record killings during his tenure.\n <\/p>\n

\n The concern is not only the surge in killings, but the increasing brazenness with which they are carried out.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to Eilaf\u2019s report, three out of four killings last year occurred in public spaces, indicating the \u201cdangerous normalization of open crime\u2026 without any real fear of immediate intervention or effective deterrence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIn light of weak governance, limited police presence, and declining trust in institutions, organized crime in Arab towns found a fertile ground for expansion, gradually building its economic and social influence by exploiting the vacuum left by the state,\u201d said Rawyah Handaqlu, the head of Eilaf.\n <\/p>\n

\n She says the violence reflects the \u201cexclusion and marginalization\u201d of Palestinian citizens of Israel, arguing that the state has frequently relegated crime and violence to simply being a product of Arab society, which \u201cholds society responsible for a reality imposed on it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian member of the Knesset who actively raises the crime issue in parliament, believes the first step to eradicate crime in the Arab community is to topple the right-wing government, which she describes as \u201cracist, fascist and criminal.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhen the government is not acting\u2026 not holding the criminals responsible and not prosecuting them, it\u2019s like sponsoring them,\u201d she told CNN at the Sakhnin protest. \u201cWe want them to do the work they are supposed to do, and we want to give our young people the security to develop and to feel that they are living.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n In December, the Israeli Prime Minister\u2019s Office announced plans to redirect $70 million from a program designed to promote Arab economic development to the police to address \u201csevere nationalistic crime\u201d in the Arab community.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Mosawa Center, a group advocating equal rights for Palestinian citizens, called it a \u201cdangerous political step\u201d that would do nothing to combat crime.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cWhile the ministry fails to use the budgets already at its disposal, it is pushing to cut budgets allocated to other areas such as education and housing and transfer them to its own coffers,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cThis can only be interpreted as a deliberate policy of further impoverishing Arab society and plunging it deeper into crises, including the scourge of crime.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Back at his home in Mazra\u2019a, Awad\u2019s wait for justice continues. He finds comfort only in the photographs of his late son.\n <\/p>\n

\n Asked if he has any hope that there will be justice for his death, he sighs and points to the ceiling.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cJustice only exists up there, with God.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sakhnin, Israel \u00a0\u2014\u00a0 A mother shot dead outside a supermarket. A man killed after leaving a mosque. A…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":292154,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[85,46,43],"class_list":{"0":"post-292153","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\/292153","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=292153"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/292153\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=292153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=292153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=292153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}