Tens of thousands of protesters marched in a mass demonstration through the northern city of Sakhnin on Thursday, rallying against police failure to curb organized crime in Israel's Arab sector.
Members of the secular Arab party Hadash-Tal joined the protest and called on as many people as possible to take part.
“Tens of thousands in Sakhnin are marching together for the safety of all of us,” Hadash-Tal chairperson MK Ayman Odeh said.
Odeh called on Jewish Israeli citizens in the country to join in on the protest as well, calling them “our partners in the struggle against organized crime.”
“We will strike, demonstrate, and fight for all our lives, until our children can live with dignity and security,” Odeh said.
Protest comes amid ongoing strikes in Sakhnin
The protest in Sakhnin comes amid an ongoing three-day strike in the city, in which shopkeepers and various other institutions have closed their doors due to the increase in violence in the Arab sector in the country.
Protesters also rallied against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the police, over his handling of crime in the country.
In return, Ben-Gvir accused members of the Arab sector of hypocrisy and “fuelling” crime.
He said that local Arab authorities “turn a blind eye to criminal activity and do nothing to actually prevent crime."
On the one hand, they speak out against the situation, but on the other hand, they try in every possible way to restrict the police actions, he said.
The national security minister claimed that Arab authorities sent petitions to the High Court rejecting police entrance to certain areas, calling for police not to set up roadblocks in Arab towns.
“I say to those local authority heads: stop the hypocrisy, do some soul-searching. We are acting against crime, and you should not interfere,” Ben-Gvir said.
Opposition party leaders expressed their support for the demonstration, sharply criticizing the government for its conduct in fighting against crime in the Arab sector.
Opposition leader Yair Lapid (Yesh Atid) said that it was “time for this failed government to stop treating the problems of Arab citizens of Israel as separate from the problems of the country as a whole.”
“The government is failing to provide personal security, failing to address protection rackets, and failing in the fight against violent crime,” he added.
Former IDF chief of staff Gadi Eisenkot (Yashar!) supported the protest and called to replace the government.
“The mass protest taking place now in Sakhnin is a cry against the rising violence under a government that has lost touch with reality and forgotten what responsibility means,” he said.
The protest comes after a 40-signature debate in the Knesset with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday titled “The government’s ongoing failure to eradicate violence and crime in the Arab sector.”
Under Knesset rules, such a debate can be initiated by the opposition and requires the prime minister’s attendance.
The debate was opened by MK Mansour Abbas, the chairperson of Ra’am (the United Arab List).
“We requested this debate due to the rise in rates of violence and crime in Israel, particularly within Arab society,” Abbas told the plenum.
“The government is failing to rise to the level of the challenge and, regrettably, is abandoning the lives of the country’s citizens, Jews and Arabs alike,” he said.
Netanyahu rejected the criticism in response. “In complete contrast to what was said here, I and the government I lead view this issue as a central national challenge,” he said.
“We have transferred budgets to Arab local authorities responsibly, built an oversight framework, and created a reliable and transparent funding mechanism,” Netanyahu added.
According to a December report by the Abraham Initiatives, 2025 was the deadliest year so far for Arab society in Israel.