Israeli President Herzog has called the snowballing crime wave in Arab-Israeli communities a “national emergency”.
More than 30 Arab-Israelis have been killed since the start of the year amid a spate of gang-related violence.
Three men were gunned down on Thursday morning in the northern village of Suweid Hamira, after another mass shooting left three others dead on a highway near Sde Warburg.
The escalating violence continues a trend from 2025, the deadliest year on record in the community with 252 murders, while the murder rate has doubled since 2023.
Authorities believe many of the killings are linked to various gang conflicts, including a war between the Hawalad and Sawad crime families, which has flared up in recent weeks.
"Thirty-three people have been murdered in Arab society since the beginning of the year. This is not a ‘sector statistic,’ this is a painful Israeli tragedy,” said Herzog.
"It’s time to wake up. The blood spilled on the streets of Arab society is the blood of the country’s citizens, and the rampant crime is a clear and immediate danger to the security of all of Israeli society. Yes, all of it!
"This is a national emergency. This violence will not stop within the borders of this or that village – it is a disease that gnaws at the foundations of us all.
"The law enforcement system and the political echelon must join hands.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu has already ordered a policing crackdown in Arab communities, saying back in January that lawlessness in the Negev region was “out of control”.
"We will rein it in, and an important operation by the Israel Police has already begun, in conjunction with other forces,” he added.
However, critics have claimed that a long-running lack of proper enforcement in affected communities has contributed to the problem, laying the blame on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Some Bedouin leaders have protested the police operation, claiming it amounts to a form of collective punishment for the actions of a violent minority within the community, emboldened by periods of police neglect.
The Israel Police has responded by claiming that prior enforcement operations have been hampered by criminal intimidation and, consequently, a lack of cooperation from the local community.
Communal fury has also been directed at Arab political parties, with accusations that they have shown insufficient leadership and indulged in too much intra-communal squabbling.
In response, all four Arab-Israeli parties in the Knesset have signed an agreement to re-establish the Joint List ahead of the next set of Israeli elections.
The leaders of Hadash, Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad made the deal last month during a meeting in Sakhnin, where they gathered to attend a general strike called by communal leaders over the crime wave.
The original Joint List was established in 2015, becoming the third-largest faction in the Knesset before being dissolved in 2019. It was then recreated later that year and increased its seat tally, but ideological disagreements saw it break up once again in 2022.
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