Author: Chris Kodo

Standing at a protest in Haifa against the increasing crime in Arab communities in Israel, Abu Salah yells “Enough. Enough” in Hebrew with an Arabic accent.

We desire to have a tranquil and calm life. She wants to know who is responsible for all of this and why they would kill these children.

Abu Salah’s son Ali was killed last week while he was going to work. This happened one year after he was in prison. He is one of the recent people who were killed in a growing number of murders that specifically target Arab Israelis. Over 170 Arab Israelis have been killed this year, which is a much higher number compared to previous years (111 were killed in total in 2022).

Abu Salah says she was supposed to get ready for her son’s wedding. Instead, she went to a protest where many Israelis – both Jews and Arabs – came together to demand fairness and equality.

I am holding the police, government, law, and members of the Israeli Parliament responsible. “We need to find and catch all the people who are doing these awful things,” she explains. Why won’t they let my child live for a longer time. Why won’t they give him the chance for a future.

The family is from Israel and they are Arabs. Arabs make up about 20% of the population in Israel. Many people are able to speak Hebrew very well and consider themselves to be Palestinian. However, they express that they feel like they are not valued as much as Jewish Israelis, and they believe that Israeli authorities are not taking their situations as seriously.

Israeli officials say that the increase in violence is being driven by organized crime. Activists say that gangs take advantage of the fact that many young Arab-Israeli men are unemployed. These gangs act like loan providers and make shop owners and others pay money to them for protection. Arab towns in Israel are facing a problem of illegal guns. This is making people fearful of helping the police because they are afraid of retaliation.

Thabet Abu Rass, who helps run Abraham Initiatives, an organization that works for equal rights between Israeli Arabs and Jews, believes that a shortage of proper policing has caused a problem in the Arab community in Israel. Criminal organizations are taking over this space. And they are really doing everything, the criminal groups are guarding, they are collecting money for protection, they are harming people, they are lending money to people if they need it, but they are also bringing peace, harmony, and talking with people to resolve problems. Only criminal organizations are doing this job and no one else is doing it, Abu Rass says.

Abu Rass believes that the Israeli police are currently not strong because they are busy with political issues, protests against changes in the judicial system, and the increasing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians in the last year and a half. According to information from the Abraham Initiatives, not many of the recent murders have resulted in charges being made.

We feel like we are in different places than Jewish Israelis. We are not a part of Israel. But we are people who live in Israel and have the rights and responsibilities of being citizens. We want police to be fair and treat everyone equally,” Abu Rass says.

Lots of people who were hurt were chosen on purpose, either because they are in gangs that fight each other or for different reasons. But people who were not involved, even young children and toddlers, have also been killed, according to local authorities.

At the protest in Haifa last week, people carried white coffins for each of the victims up until now. Beside the victims were notes saying what they were doing when they were killed. “I went to get a pizza,” says someone. Another person says, “It was my special day when I was born. ” Many women wearing white robes held signs in three languages, Hebrew, Arabic, and English. The signs had messages like “Arab Blood Matters” and “Startup nation. More like innovation in discrimination. ”

Johara, the daughter of Badee’a Khnifes, was a person who worked against violence and fought for the rights of women. She took part in programs supported by the US State Department. She was only 28 years old when she died last year because a bomb went off under her car.

Khnifes, who is an Arab-Druze Israeli citizen, is wearing a white shirt with her daughter’s picture on it. She says that the police haven’t made much progress in solving her daughter’s murder, except for suggesting that it might have been a mix-up.

“I feel like a forgotten outsider in a very forgotten, controlling country,” she says. “I don’t feel like I fit in anywhere. ”

In the early 2000s, officials in Israel started a large-scale plan to address a high number of murders caused by organized Jewish criminal groups. In some situations, people were transported from the United States to Israel to be tried.

Arab Israelis like Khnifes want equal attention and effort to be given to this situation.

Khnifes says that in our Arab society right now, something similar to what happened 20 years ago is occurring in Israel. The police did a great job back then in dealing with criminal activities involving Jewish people. We all belong to the same group, we all live in the same place, but it doesn’t have any value. We are people who live in this country and are part of its government. I want them to treat me and my community the way they treat the Jewish community, because we are all like family.

Lots of people in this community, including Ahmad Tibi who is a member of parliament and Arab-Israeli, think that the current government is to blame. They say that it is the most right-wing government in the history of Israel. Israel’s police force is overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who was previously found guilty of expressing hatred towards Arabs.

“He is the wrong person to be the National Security minister. Tibi thinks it’s ridiculous that Netanyahu selected this person for this job. This man, who has been declared guilty by the Israeli court for being a criminal and a terrorist, is currently in charge of the police force. He is fighting against the police, and they are fighting back, but unfortunately, both sides are not succeeding. And if we fail, it will result in a large amount of violence on our streets within our community.

The Israel Police, who have been doing many important operations to prevent crime in the Arab community, said no to CNN’s request to talk.

Ben Gvir said that the increase in crime is because the government has not paid attention to the problem for a long time and has ignored the signs that it was getting worse. He wants the Shin Bet, a security agency that deals with terrorism, to help solve these crimes. He said his idea for a new “national guard” would also be beneficial.

Last month, Ben Gvir said that there are criminal groups in the Arab sector who have armed militias with many soldiers and weapons. They are dangerous groups that cause harm and fear. When they use violence on the street, they will attack Israel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu created a team of ministers to help tackle crime in Arab communities.

He said that the increase in crime is a big problem for Israel. He said this during a meeting on Thursday.

On Thursday, the committee said they have plans to give police more advanced technology and tools to help them do their job. They also want to increase the amount of money that criminals have to pay if they are caught. The group also suggested that the police and Shin Bet should work together more closely. Netanyahu has also mentioned this idea in the past.

“We will do whatever it takes, including using the Shin Bet and the police, to stop this crime,” Netanyahu said last month when the director general of a mostly Arab city called Tira was killed. We have stopped criminal activities by groups of people in the Jewish community in Israel, and we will do the same for criminal activities in the Arab community in Israel. Every person in Israel should feel safe and not worried about terrorism inside the country.

This has caused some disagreement, including from Ronen Bar, who leads the Shin Bet, since their main job is to investigate terrorism. However, it is reported that he recently met with the leaders of Arab cities.

According to Israeli media, Bar said that if a country starts to consistently involve the Shin Bet in every difficult situation, it will become a completely different country.

No matter how they try to stop this increase in crime, Arab citizens in Israel believe it won’t be long before this problem affects their Jewish neighbors.

“Today, there is pain in the Arab society, just like there was 20 years ago in the Jewish society, and it will come back to the Jewish society,” Khnifes explains. “And I don’t want that. ”