‘The youth won't be cannon fodder’ - Around 215 Israeli Arabs killed this year amid rising wave of violence

A 17-year-old Arab Israeli student was stabbed to death at a school in Kafr Kara, in the Western Galilee, on Monday, in one of the latest incidents in a worrying rise of murders in the Arab Israeli community.

The student, identified as Hussein Mazarka, from Arara, was stabbed during a fight with another student. 

According to Channel 12 News, emergency medical service personnel were forced to pronounce Mazarka dead after two hours of resuscitation attempts. 

Magen David Adom emergency medics Bader Agbaria and Matti Carmi described their arrival on the scene. 

“We were led to the boy who was lying unconscious, without a pulse and without breathing, with a stab wound on his body. We immediately began providing medical treatment, which included stopping the bleeding and resuscitation, and then he was taken to the hospital in critical condition,” they said. 

In a statement, the Israel Police said, “Following the announcement about the stabbing of a teenager with a knife at a school in Kafr Kara, a short while ago the medical authorities were forced to pronounce him dead. The Menashe District Police located the suspect and arrested him, as well as seized the suspect's knife used by the stabber.” 

A teacher at the school said that the assailant, a 16-year-old distant relative of the victim, approached the older boy during the lunch break, shouting, “Why are you looking at me?” 

A fight broke out between the two, at which point the younger boy pulled out the knife and stabbed Mazarka several times. 

According to a report in Ynet News, the school’s principal, Anat Ezab, said the assailant only recently started attending the school. 

“We are in the most difficult event we have ever experienced," she said. “The victim is an outstanding and respected student, and we all love him. We watched over him all the time, and he had very good grades. We are deeply saddened by his loss.” 

The incident in Kafr Kara was just one in a long series of recent murders.

Earlier the same day, 18-year-old Arab Israeli Qasem Asala was shot dead in the town of Arrabe in the Lower Galilee, while traveling to work with his father. His father said a man ran towards their vehicle, fired several shots at his son, and then ran away. Police have opened a criminal investigation into the shooting. 

About a week and a half before, a school guard was shot dead in the village of Yasif, near Acre. The guard was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment in critical condition, but was pronounced dead a short time later. 

The week before that, a 35-year-old Arab man was murdered in Arrabe. MDA medics and paramedics reported finding a 35-year-old man with no signs of life and with penetrating injuries. The paramedics were forced to pronounce him dead at the scene. 

Just a week prior to that, a 50-year-old Arab man was shot and killed in Deir al-Asad, near Karmiel. Police who arrived at the scene found him critically injured, and by the time paramedics arrived at the scene, he was pronounced dead. 

Police estimated that the killings were likely criminal in nature. 

These incidents highlight a growing level of violence in the Israeli Arab sector, in which 215 people have been murdered since the beginning of the year, with most of those being shot. This represents an increase of over 7% in the number of violent deaths in the Arab sector over the last year. Criminal violence in the sector has been steadily increasing since 2022. 

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir has been accused of ignoring the rising wave of criminal violence in the Arab sector. While the Knesset recently approved the Fogel Law, which allows for criminal organizations to be designated as terror organizations, which Ben Gvir pushed for, some analysts say the move is not enough. 

Ministerial Committee for Legislation chairman Zvika Fogel, who proposed the law, said, "The criminal organizations in Israel have long been not only concerned with money or crime, they harm the state, they threaten, and act like terrorist organizations in every way.” 

Sheikh Kamal Rayan, founder of the organization "Aman" for a Secure Life, and whose youngest son was murdered in 2009, welcomed any steps to improve the situation. 

“The criminal organizations have money, weapons, and technology that are ahead of the police,” Rayan said. “The state is still fighting with yesterday's tools.” 

“We must immediately move to a financial stranglehold and asset seizure, integrated intelligence between all law enforcement agencies, and the completion of investigations up to indictment in binding timelines with weekly reporting to the public,” he stated. “The youth will not be cannon fodder.” 

Others say that Ben Gvir does not take serious action because he does not care about deaths in the Arab sector. One person, who requested anonymity, told Ynet News, “We don't care about Minister Ben-Gvir. As far as he is concerned, the murders are not important. He continues to disdain [us] and does nothing to eradicate crime. Such a person needs to be replaced, he is a disaster for all of us.” 

Following the stabbing on Monday, Education Minister Yoav Kish instructed public schools across the nation to dedicate the first lesson period to the topic: “Dialogue of Respect for Others and Prevention of Violence.”