Violent Crime Soars in Arab Communities in Israel
Arab leaders say that successive Israeli governments have failed to address the crisis and accuse the Israel Police of not doing enough
Ruid Mohammad Awaisa, 26, from the city of Nazareth in northern Israel, broke his Ramadan fast on Wednesday and went to visit his sister. He returned home and was waiting for his cousins to gather as they do every evening during Ramadan, when a gunman stormed the house and shot and killed him.
Awaisa was studying to be an accountant, and had one month left until graduation.
He was the youngest of his brothers and was the son of the deputy mayor of Nazareth. And he was the 41st person to be murdered in the Arab community in Israel since the beginning of the year, as Israel’s Arab community witnesses a dangerous escalation in violence and crime again in 2023.
Mahran Awaisi, Ruid’s older brother, told The Media Line that his brother was a good man who “had no disputes or connections with criminal entities.”
“Isn’t time to say enough to violence, murder and crime? The situation we are in is absolutely unbearable, and it is time for the Arab masses to take action to combat the rampant crime in Arab society, as this terrible silence is inconceivable,” Mahran Awaisi said.
The police have in the past described the spike in crime in the Arab community in Israel as “extraordinary cases of violence.”
During 2022, the death toll from homicides in the Arab community reached 109, including 12 women. The year 2021 was the deadliest in the Arab sector with 126 murders, but at this rate, 2023 is on track to surpass it.
The recent crime wave has shed light on the high level of violence in Israel’s Arab community, amid accusations that the Israel Police have failed to combat it.
The government has said it is sending more police in to Arab communities, but their presence often is not welcome.
Thabet Abu Ras, co-director of the Abraham Fund Initiatives in Israel, attributed the rise in crime in Arab communities to several reasons, among them the prevalence of illegal weapons in Arab towns; a number that some estimate to be about half a million firearms.
Abu Ras told The Media Line that “there is lack of trust in the government’s efforts and promises.”
“The people have completely lost confidence in the police, we are not looking for lip service and for them to show up when elections near,” he said.
The murder rate continues to rise among Arab-Israelis who accuse the government of not doing enough, while acting decisively against violence in the Jewish community.
It is clear that the Palestinian minority is being targeted by the state. We are victims of a systematic government policy that does not aim to put an end to crime in Arab society.
Many living in Arab towns and cities in Israel point their finger at the police’s failure to confront and complicity with criminal gangs. Talab Al-Sane, a former member of Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, has repeatedly accused the Israel Police of not doing enough. At the same time, Al-Sane also criticizes the society that does not fight these armed organizations.
“You don’t blame government; we must stand up for ourselves. We are the victim, but we bear some responsibility,” Al-Sane said.
The head of the anti-violence department of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, told The Media Line that the “current situation is tragic because the society commits suicide, and it has become its own enemy, and those killed are mostly young men under the age of 30.”
Israeli Arabs are a young community – with 30 % of its population ages 18-23, and observers say they lack many of the benefits that are afforded to Jewish citizens of the same age.
Arabs make up 20% of Israel’s population of 9 million, and they are descendants of the Palestinian Arabs who remained on their lands after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.
Abu Ras lists three “profound causes” of the ongoing wave of criminal activities in the Arab community, including murder. One relates to land disputes and the acute housing crisis in the Arab sector, and to lands owned by official local authorities.
“High rates of unemployment, poor education, high rates of youth at risk, and solving planning and housing obstacles, making capital and credit available to Arab citizens while developing better financial services … the government did not work or plan to fix any of these problems in a serious way,” he said.
Most of the victims are young people, but other groups are increasingly falling victim to crime linked to unlicensed weapons, family disputes and organized crime.
“It is clear that the Palestinian minority is being targeted by the state. We are victims of a systematic government policy that does not aim to put an end to crime in Arab society,” according to Al-Sane.
The prevailing feeling among Arab citizens of Israel is that successive governments have failed to address the crisis, and they openly accuse government officials of intentionally neglecting crime among them.
“I accuse the government because the source of the weapons says so. The inaction of the police says so. The failure to arrest and prosecute the criminals confirms what I say,” Al-Sane said.
The families of the victims and Arab officials see police inaction as one of the main causes of the endemic violence that has plagued their neighborhoods and cities.
This unprecedented number of victims of crime in Arab society is a serious injustice, a speedy deterioration after what seemed as a sincere effort made by the last government
The police reject these assertions, and explain that they are doing everything they can but that, in the absence of cooperation, they are unable to do much, and it becomes difficult for them to stop and solve the crime.
“This is a bad excuse, frankly, because if the victim was a Jew, things would be different, and within hours they would know who the perpetrator was and who helped him,” according to Al-Sane.
“This unprecedented number of victims of crime in Arab society is a serious injustice, a speedy deterioration after what seemed as a sincere effort made by the last government,” Abu Ras said.
Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, promised to personally fight crime in Arab communities, but one is hard-pressed to find an Arab who believe what he says.
“Ever since he took office, this racist and Arab hater’s conduct has fueled tension and I wouldn’t be surprised if it won’t lead to a rise in crime in our society,” Abu Ras said.
Abu Ras also said that “the government and the Israel Police are to blame for the exacerbation of crime and violence in the Arab community,” and that the Israel Police is the only party that can fight this type of crime in Arab towns and villages.
“The Arab sector’s crime problem is an outgrowth of decades of discrimination and neglect, and the incoming national security minister is more interested in establishing an armed Jewish militia operating under his control and above the law and without police supervision to terrorize Arabs,” he said, referring to the National Guard that Ben-Gvir is forming under the auspices of his ministry.
There is no one simple answer, says Abu Ras. “We all have to work together and contribute the solution,” he added.
