“If I can stay with my family abroad I’ll be able to raise my children normally I’ll turn my children into criminals.” A who has been pursued by a criminal organization and is now trying to leave the country with his family you have to be a criminal in order to survive and it’s clear that the situation will get worse in the coming years.”  Some may say this is an exaggeration, and insist that Palestinian citizens of Israel lead normal lives, better than most Palestinians and Arabs. But in addition to widespread discrimination against and increasing political persecution of Palestinian citizens by the Israeli government, the number of Palestinian victims of organized crime continues to rise at a frightening rate According to a Taub Institute study the Arab community in Israel had the third-highest murder rate among OECD countries in 2019 — just below Mexico and Colombia — with 11.11 murders per 100,000 citizens a figure that tripled for those between the ages of 20 and 34 The study also noted that murders in Palestinian communities more than doubled with a consistent climb in the murder rate every month through last September “There are few villages that have not experienced shootings an attorney who heads the Emergency Headquarters to Combat Crime in Arab Society — an emergency body established last September by the High Follow-Up Committee and the National Committee of the Heads of Arab Local Authorities “It’s not just about the number of fatalities,” she explained “Entire families have left the country or changed their place of residence which sometimes are not even reported in the media.” 86 Arab citizens have been murdered — a startlingly high number that suggests the murder rate this year will be similar to last year’s Yet although the numbers are roughly the same criminal organizations have recently escalated their tactics we no longer hear about a stabbing: there are now anti-tank missiles things are developing horribly,” Handaqlu warns “The heads of the criminal organizations know exactly how the police work so you feel that things are coordinated,” A “In the absence of any real deterrent the pace of their activity only increases.” He notes that in past years gunmen would burn their getaway vehicle in a remote area in order to hide and destroy any evidence they will blow it up near the crime scene — and if they previously limited their attacks to certain targets now they will go after the target’s family as well “I’m not surprised that there are some who have killed 10 or 20 people in recent years,” A most murder cases are closed or dragged out and all the evidence from security cameras and traces is ‘wasted’.” He has no hope that the situation will improve; in the coming years In the media, political discourse, and among the Israeli public, Druze communities are often seen as separate from the Palestinian minority — a perception that some Druze reinforce themselves especially during periods of heightened security when they call attention to the fact that Druze citizens serve in the army and security services as well as house demolitions and other forms of discrimination they face the same threats as the rest of Palestinian society “We hold the police unequivocally responsible as the institution responsible for our security and who have negligently allowed things to deteriorate here for years,” Ghoutani affirmed Five people were killed in Isfiya and not a single suspect was arrested We only hear that ‘the police are opening an investigation.’” Ghoutani conceded that other factors — including unemployment He also advocated for renewing the activities of reconciliation committees a traditional forum for mediating disputes in Arab society and to grant them the authority to address crime head-on “But the war between criminal organizations in Arab society and the chaos that exists today are greater than anything else [facing the Arab community],” he insisted Following the October 7 attacks, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir moved quickly to expand gun ownership among Jewish civilians, and recently celebrated the approval of more than 100,000 new gun licenses gun violence at the hands of criminal organizations has also proliferated “The weapons distributed today under the pretext of Jewish security will be used against Arabs,” she predicted “especially with the deteriorating economic situation and the chaos of the war.” Handaqlu’s work is only made more difficult by Ben Gvir and the lack of cooperation from his ministry — a departure from the ministry’s role under former Internal Security Minister Omer Barlev and his deputy Yoav Segalovich who collaborated with Arab Knesset members and heads of Arab municipalities the minister incites against Arab society or uses organized crime as an excuse to attack it and he has even gutted existing government programs for Arab society.” Ben Gvir decided to freeze the ministry’s cooperation in the “Stop the Bleeding” program an initiative designed to deal with the rising violence and crime in Arab society Forced to come up with alternative solutions Handaqlu convened a roundtable of civil society institutions and representatives from several ministries and has continued to work with local authorities to help improve their response to criminal activity and assist those affected by it On the problem of police negligence toward crime in Palestinian communities Handaqlu admitted that “we must cooperate with them because they are responsible for our security.” But she also acknowledged that the police are subject to policies dictated by the government which currently seems bent on making the situation worse The Knesset is currently preparing to pass the Law to Expand the Means to Combat Criminal Organizations the sole authority to use anti-terrorism tactics in the fight against domestic crime This would amount to a remarkable expansion of his powers which he is almost certain to use against — not for the benefit of — Arab citizens “If this law had passed before October 7,” Handaqlu suggested “perhaps the minister would have declared the entire Arab society a terrorist organization.” A version of this article was first published in Hebrew on Local Call. Read it here Baker Zoubi is a journalist from Kufr Misr currently living in Nazareth Baker has been working in the field of journalism since 2010 initially as a reporter for local Arab media outlets and later as an editor of the Bokra website he also works as a researcher and editor for television programs on the Makan and Musawa channels He writes and posts on his Facebook page various opinion pieces on politics and social issues related to Palestinian society Our team has been devastated by the horrific events of this latest war The world is reeling from Israel’s unprecedented onslaught on Gaza inflicting mass devastation and death upon besieged Palestinians as well as the atrocious attack and kidnappings by Hamas in Israel on October 7 Our hearts are with all the people and communities facing this violence We are in an extraordinarily dangerous era in Israel-Palestine The bloodshed has reached extreme levels of brutality and threatens to engulf the entire region are seizing the opportunity to intensify their attacks on Palestinians The most far-right government in Israel’s history is ramping up its policing of dissent using the cover of war to silence Palestinian citizens and left-wing Jews who object to its policies one that +972 has spent the past 14 years covering: Israeli society’s growing racism and militarism We are well positioned to cover this perilous moment – but we need your help to do it This terrible period will challenge the humanity of all of those working for a better future in this land Palestinians and Israelis are already organizing and strategizing to put up the fight of their lives Can we count on your support +972 Magazine is a leading media voice of this movement a desperately needed platform where Palestinian and Israeli journalists and thinkers can report on and analyze what is happening Five members of an Arab family were shot dead in their home in Israel in the latest in a wave of crime-related killings in Israel’s Arab communities that has reached a new peak this year in the northern town of Basmat Tab’un followed a separate incident in which a 50-year-old man was killed earlier in the day More than 180 Arab citizens in Israel have been killed in crime-related violence since January – a seven-year high – in a spate of killings that have continued unchecked drawing accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s religious-nationalist government was ignoring the bloodshed the Israeli government understands what needs to be done everybody understands what needs to be done there simply is no will and no leadership,” said Mansour Abbas leader of one of the parties that represent Israel’s Arab minority Arab mayors have accused the government and police of deliberately neglecting their communities and of enabling criminals to act with impunity They have refused to work with the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir who has past convictions of support for terrorism and anti-Arab incitement and have demanded that Netanyahu intervene instead With Israel facing its worst political crisis in decades over Netanyahu’s drive to push through divisive changes to the judiciary Arab citizens say the collapse of personal safety in their communities must receive more government attention.