Arab-Israeli lawmaker says national security minister ‘wants Arabs to die’ amid crime surge

After more than two years of war between Israel and seven Arab fronts, tensions inside the country are boiling over. Knesset Member Ayman Odeh says the lengthy conflict has deepened racism and the disenfranchisement of Arab citizens of Israel, intensified stress nationwide, and contributed to a sharp rise in violence within Arab society.

“Arabs are treated as a security issue rather than a civic issue,” Odeh said.

Odeh spoke to ALL ISRAEL NEWS by phone last week, accusing National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir of intentionally failing to curb deadly Arab-on-Arab crime.

“Ben Gvir wants Arabs to die. I repeat that sentence. Ben Gvir wants Arabs to die,” Odeh said in Hebrew. “He believes this country should be only for Jews. From his perspective, the fact that Arabs remained here is a mistake in the Zionist project.”

He continued: “I believe there are elements within the Israeli establishment who want us to reach a point of violent confrontation so they will have an excuse to crack down hard.”

Violence within Arab communities has been rising for more than a decade, long before Ben Gvir took office in 2022 under the current Netanyahu government. An ultra-nationalist who has been convicted of anti-Arab incitement, Ben Gvir was appointed to oversee the Israel Police. However, within a year of Ben Gvir’s appointment, homicides in the Arab sector had more than doubled, according to data shared by the Abraham Initiatives, an NGO that tracks Arab victims of homicide.

Last week, Arab citizens staged a nationwide “day of disruption” to protest what they say is a lack of attention from the police and the government to rising crime. The two-hour work stoppage blocked roads and represented a rare moment in which Jews and Arabs protested side by side. Their message was clear: Arab citizens feel neglected and harbor deep mistrust toward the government and the police.

​Against this backdrop, Israel’s four Arab parties recently signed an agreement to run as a “Joint List” in the upcoming elections. The move is likely to raise voter turnout in the Arab sector and could help the parties secure at least a few seats, potentially influential ones. Their goal would be to push the issue of crime in Arab society onto the national agenda under any new government.

​A poll published by ArPanel earlier this month found that 82% of Arab citizens support reestablishing the Joint List. When asked who should lead it, the most popular choices were Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi of Ta’al and former Knesset Member Yousef Jabareen of the Hadash party, followed by Mansour Abbas of the Ra’am party. Odeh’s name did not rank high. However, he told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that he does not plan to run, saying he is more interested in grassroots work on related issues.

​“The Joint List, Arab unity, is essential because what matters most to Arab society is stopping this government’s path,” Odeh said.

​Although there is speculation that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may call early elections, they are currently scheduled for October 2026.

​Over the weekend, the Abraham Initiatives published the latest crime statistics in Arab society. Since the beginning of 2026, 46 Arab citizens have lost their lives in incidents related to crime and violence. According to the organization, 43 were shot to death, 20 were aged 30 and under, and three of the victims were women. During the same period last year, there were 31 victims.

​In 2025, a record 252 Arab citizens were killed in crime-related incidents. The Abraham Initiatives reported that 88% died in shootings, driven by the increase in illegal weapons in the community. While most of those murdered were men, 23 were women, the highest number ever recorded.

​The majority of deadly criminal incidents, 57%, took place in the north, often referred to as the “Triangle,” a cluster of 11 cities and towns where many Arab citizens of Israel live, as well as in Haifa. Another 28% occurred in the central region, including Tel Aviv. The smallest number, 14%, took place in southern Israel.

Numbers prepared by the initiative show that crime has been rising steadily since the late 2010s. However, a dramatic spike began in 2023, as Odeh described. Until 2020, fewer than 100 Arab citizens were killed each year in these types of incidents. That number rose to 126 in 2021, possibly due to the social and economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, and then surged to 245 in 2023. In 2024, 230 people were killed.

​“If this continues for another two years, there will be 1,000 Arabs murdered per year,” Odeh said. “That is why we launched a struggle to stop this.”

​A poll published in December by the Israel Democracy Institute found that around one-third of Arab citizens are considering leaving Israel.

​“We Arabs in Israel do not have a state,” Odeh said. “The state is the state of the Jews. We do not have a police force. The police are not an address for us at all.”

​At the same time, Odeh acknowledged that the government is not the only factor. He said that Israel’s economic development has eroded the traditional social structure among Arabs. Just as feudalism and earlier social frameworks ended in Europe during the Industrial Revolution, similar changes occurred among Arabs in Israel.

​“The rise of an individualistic society damaged the clan structure,” Odeh said. “You go and work in services, construction, medicine, high tech, and you earn your own salary. What do you need your extended family for? You became part of an individualistic society. So the clans no longer protect you.”

​Odeh said the state must take two primary steps: dismantle organized crime networks and prevent weapons from being stolen from army bases and flowing into Arab communities.

​“Only two things, organized crime networks and weapons,” Odeh said.

​He told ALL ISRAEL NEWS that Arab citizens want to live in a society free of weapons.

​“We want zero weapons,” Odeh stressed. “We are fighting for that democratically and nonviolently.”

​He argued that crime harms the general economy, with billions of shekels lost each year to organized crime, unpaid taxes, smuggling, welfare burdens, and damage to tourism. 

​As for the political way forward, Odeh said the primary goal is to prevent Netanyahu and his allies from forming the next government.

​“We will increase Arab voter turnout and recommend any candidate who can replace Netanyahu,” Odeh said. “What matters to us are the government’s core principles: peace and equality. We want a government committed to those values.”