Sakunin, Israel
—
A mother was shot to death outside a supermarket. A man dies after leaving a mosque. A doctor was shot while treating a patient. These shocking incidents are no longer an anomaly, they are victims of violent crime that is rampant across Israel.
All the victims were Palestinians living in Israel. Homicides in their area have increased dramatically, with an average of one person killed every day this year. Palestinians make up 20% of the country’s population, and many say the Israeli government has not only failed to curb the crime wave, but that its inaction has fueled a cycle of violence, mainly carried out by Arab organized crime groups.
The data confirm clear inequalities. Israeli police solve only 15% of murders in Israel’s Arab community, compared to 65% among Jewish Israelis, according to data from the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, and the Arab Center for the Promotion of Social Security.
The Palestinian people of Israel are the descendants of those who were not expelled or forced to flee their homes when Israel was founded in 1948. Although they were granted citizenship, they lived under military rule until 1966, and many say they still face discrimination in Israeli society.
Last year was the deadliest on record for the community, with 252 people killed, most of them by gunfire, according to a report released by Abraham Initiatives, a group that promotes social inclusion and equal rights for Palestinians in Israel.
The group says 2026 has already gotten off to a bloody start, with 46 people killed so far.
This is a dangerous reality and an alarming one. In recent weeks, tens of thousands of Palestinians, joined by some Jewish Israelis, have taken to the streets to demand government action.
Tens of thousands of people took part in protests in January in the Palestinian-majority city of Saknin in northern Israel, where demonstrators chanted in Arabic: “No to murder, no to death, we want to live in justice.”
Participants told CNN it was the largest demonstration the Arab community had seen in years, culminating in a multi-day general strike by shop owners.
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 fountains were dyed red as people declared a “National Day of Unrest.”
A week after the Saknin attack, Israeli President Isaac Herzog made a rare visit to the city and met with local Arab authorities and protest organizers.
He said combating crime and violence in Arab communities “is a top national priority and must be tackled with the utmost determination”, calling it a “moral obligation”.
And on Thursday, Israel’s police chief Daniel Levy declared crime in Arab communities a “national emergency” and “an intolerable situation that must be stopped.”
He called on other government agencies to work with police to address the issue.
To many Palestinians living in Israel, these declarations ring hollow. Qassem Awad has been waiting for more than a year for his son’s killer to be brought to justice.
Her son Abdullah, a doctor from Mazra’a in the western Galilee, was treating a mother and two children at his clinic in February last year when a masked man entered and shot him dead at close range. He was 30 years old at the time.
Abdullah was filling in for another doctor that day. His father believes he may have been mistaken for someone else.
“If you look at the Palestinian Arab community in Israel, how many people are killed every day for no reason?” Awad said. “These people have nothing to do with the criminal world. They are collateral damage, and my son is one of them.”
In the days after Abdullah’s death, his parents said Israeli police visited them and promised to investigate his death and identify the culprit.
More than a year later, that promise has not been fulfilled, and the family says they have not heard from law enforcement.
If her son had been Jewish, Awad believes the killer would have been arrested “within an hour.”
Like many others in the community, Awad believes the Israeli government is deliberately ignoring crimes committed against the Palestinian people.
“This is part of a divide-and-conquer policy: ‘Let them kill each other while we sit back and relax,'” he said.
Awad points out that Palestinian perpetrators of crimes against Israelis will be swiftly brought to justice.
“They have access to technological tools and know-how to catch the killers. But when it’s affecting the Arab demographic, do they no longer have the tools and know-how?” he asked.
According to Eilaf’s report, Palestinian citizens in Israel face “selective enforcement” of the law.
“A tough approach to political activity and freedom of expression on the one hand, and a soft approach to criminals and crime on the other,” the report said.
In response to questions from CNN, Israeli police said in a statement that a “thorough and complex investigation has been launched” following Awad’s murder, and that authorities had questioned “dozens of individuals involved with the aim of locating the suspect and uncovering the truth.”
Homicides among Palestinian citizens in Israel more than doubled in 2023, according to data compiled by the Abraham Initiative.
This was the first time that far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir has overseen the police for a full year.
Ben Gvir, who was convicted of supporting terrorism and inciting anti-Arab racism, denied responsibility and instead accused local Arab leaders of turning a “blind eye” to the crimes. Last month, he said he had “dedicated significant resources to the fight against crime and organized crime.”
Critics say his actions speak louder than words. Within months of taking office, Ben Gvir cut off major funding for an anti-Arab crime initiative launched by the previous government called “Stop the Bleeding.” The following year, he fired the police official responsible for fighting crime in Arab communities and replaced him with a junior official.
On Sunday, Ben Gvir defended his work so far on Can Rechet Radio, saying there had been “huge successes” during his tenure. “I’m not just working for Arabs, not for Arabs,” he said. “I work for everyone.”
“Murders in the Jewish sector are down by 20%. Let’s put that on the table… murders of Jewish women are down by 60%, car thefts are down by 20%.” Ben Gvir said crime in the Arab region was “a serious phenomenon” and he intended to “fight against it.” But he blamed the spike on “40 years of neglect” from authorities and the attorney general, with whom he has an ongoing feud, despite a record number of murders during his tenure.
What is worrying is not only the sharp rise in the number of murders, but also the increasing brazenness of the murders.
Three out of every four murders last year occurred in public places, Eilaf’s report said, indicating that “public crime has become dangerously commonplace, with no real fear of immediate intervention or effective deterrence.”
“Given weak governance, limited police presence, and declining trust in institutions, organized crime in Arab towns has found fertile ground for expansion, taking advantage of the vacuum left by the state to gradually increase its economic and social influence,” said Raya Handakul, head of Eilaf.
She said the violence reflects Israel’s “exclusion and marginalization” of the Palestinian population, arguing that the state frequently relegates crime and violence to a mere product of Arab society and “holds society accountable for the realities imposed on it.”
Aida Touma-Suleiman, a Palestinian lawmaker who has been active in raising crime issues in parliament, believes the first step to eradicating crime from Arab societies is to overthrow the right-wing government, which she describes as “racist, fascist and criminal.”
“The government’s failure to act… not hold criminals accountable, not prosecute them, is like sponsoring them,” she told CNN at a demonstration. “We want them to do the work they need to do. We also want young people to feel safe, grow up, and feel alive.”
In December, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced plans to direct $70 million from a program aimed at promoting Arab economic development to the police to combat “serious nationalist crimes” in Arab societies.
The Mosawa Center, an organization that advocates for equal rights for Palestinians, said it was a “dangerous political move” that would do nothing to combat crime.
“The ministry is failing to utilize the budget it already has at its disposal, while seeking to reduce budgets allocated to other areas such as education and housing and transfer them to its own coffers,” the ministry said in a statement. “This can only be interpreted as a deliberate policy to further impoverish Arab societies and plunge them further into crisis, including the scourge of crime.”
Awad, who has returned to his home in Mazraa, continues to wait for justice. He finds solace only in photos of his late son.
When asked if there was any hope that justice would be served for his death, he sighed and pointed to the ceiling.
“Justice exists only there, and only in God.”
