Event Summary
Tens of thousands of Jewish and Arab participants took part in a protest rally held in Tel Aviv on 31 January 2026, demonstrating against the rampant criminal violence in Arab communities in Israel. The rally was organized by the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, alongside other civil society organizations. Participants called on the government and the police to act decisively to eradicate the phenomenon.
According to data from CSO Abraham Initiatives, 252 members of Israel’s Arab community were killed over the past year, approximately 84% of all homicide’s cases recorded in Israel that year. The first month of 2026 has offered little encouragement, with 26 Arab citizens killed during January alone. Crime and violence in Arab communities have become the central issue preoccupying this public in Israel. Once largely confined to disputes among criminal groups, the violence has spread into wider social circles, leading to injury and killing of individuals simply for having family ties to someone involved in a criminal conflict. In some cases, even a quarrel between schoolchildren or a dispute over property can escalate to lethal violence.
Over the past decade, homicides in the Arab community have quadrupled. Estimates suggest that tens of thousands of illegal firearms are present in Arab localities in Israel, and residents report nightly shootings. Israeli police have failed in curbing crime. Some argue that police neglect crime and violence as long as it is confined to the boundaries of Arab towns and villages. National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, a far-right politician, frequently speaks of “restoring governance” yet during his tenure, crime has worsened and case clearance rates remain low.
Arab citizens of Israel are reeling from these events. People fear for their own safety and that of their children. This fear further impedes efforts to curb the phenomenon, as many are reluctant to file complaints or testify in court. Prior to the Tel Aviv rally, a general strike was declared in Arab cities on 22 January 2026, which was accompanied by a demonstration of tens of thousands in the city of Sakhnin.
This represents the broadest civil mobilization to date within the Arab public against the surge of violent crime. Many across Israeli society – Arab and Jewish alike – including a wide range of civil society organizations, support the initiative and hope it will lead to a broad civic and governmental campaign against crime and the criminal organizations that have amassed immense power in recent years.