Far-Right Govt Outlaws, Shuts Offices of Arab Reconciliation Committees

Police and Security forces shuttered on Tuesday, Jan 28, the offices of reconciliation committees in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm, citing the body’s “Islamist ties.” Cops and Shin Bet agents raided the committee’s offices and arrested their head, Sheikh Raed Salah, but released him later in the day. Salah was interrogated for several hours, following a widespread operation involving hundreds of police officers, including Border Guard units, targeting multiple locations in Umm al-Fahm.

Members of the Arab community protest violence, organized crime and killings, outside the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem. MK Aida Touma-Sliman and Muhammad Barakeh in the center of the photo, October 10, 2019 (Photo: Yonatan Sindel / Flash90)

The “peace spreading” committees were an initiative of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, a leading umbrella organization among Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel. Established by Salah in 2017, the committees operate with the stated goal of curbing violence in Arab society by mediating between feuding families. The raid came in the wake of a decision by far-right Defense Minister Israel Katz to outlaw the reconciliation program, citing its links to the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which Salah heads. Israel declared the Northern Branch illegal in 2015 over “repeated incitement to terrorism.”

The Chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee, Mohammad Barakeh, a leading Communist Party of Israel activist, vehemently reject these claims, accusing the far-right government of using political persecution to undermine Arab efforts at self-organized civil resistance. “The far-right government is determined to thwart any action that challenges its project to strengthen organized crime among Arab community in order to keep us busy instead of fighting for our rights as a society thirsty for a normal life,” said Barakeh during a press conference held on Wednesday.

In last week, four Arab citizens have been killed in three separate incidents in northern Israel this week, but authorities have yet to arrest a single suspect in any of the homicides, a reoccurring theme in how Israeli police handles homicide cases in the Arab community. A total for 17 Arabs were killed during January. Over the past two years, the number of Arab murder victims reached nearly double that of 2021, jumping from 126 in 2021, to 244 in 2023. This past year, the number stood at 230, according to data from the Abraham Initiatives group.

On the Special Day for Combating Crime and Violence in Arab Society held at the Knesset sponsored by Hadash-Ta’al parliamentary group, the Labor and Welfare Committee, held a debate on the welfare system’s handling of the rights of Arab crime victims.

MK Aida Touma Sliman (Hadash), who initiated the debate, said “We are holding this special debate today despite the fact that all of the attention is focused on the cease-fire and the release of the [female] hostages. We have waited a long time for the day when, perhaps, we would be able to focus on the issue of crime, but the war has gone on for a long time, and the internal war of the crime organizations against the Arab population has continued and intensified in the shadow of the ​war, and we cannot wait any longer. Today’s focus is on the state of children and youth in the Arab population. There was a time when the crime organizations had red lines, such as not harming women and children, but in the past one​ or two years, they have been shooting at children, babies and women as well. Women are being exploited. In this debate we will focus on all the crime victims, those who have been harmed either directly or indirectly by that violence, and we will try to examine how the state’s institutions are coping with the phenomenon, not only as far as enforcement is concerned, but also with regards to the treatment, services and rehabilitation for the victims.”  

Adv. Rawyah Handaqlu, head of the Emergency Headquarters to Combat Crime in Arab Society, said “Arab society in its entirety is a victim of crime.” Adv. Handaqlu presented a survey in which 80% of respondents said they know someone who was either injured or murdered in an act of crime or violence. “Our reports also indicate very severe trends of harm to children, or the involvement of teenagers from Arab society in crime as a result of difficult experiences – they lose parents, witness incidents of crime and violence, experience the loss of a sense of security and of childhood,” she said.

“The Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs and the state do not understand the repercussions of crime and violence. Most crime victims do not receive services from the authorities because of a shortage of positions within the welfare departments. For example, in Umm al-Fahm, which has a population of 60,000 people, there were 11 murders last year. The families of the injured, and children who were harmed, are not even counted. But in the local authority there is a very small number of people whose job is to handle this matter. In the Arab local authorities, there are very few resilience centers, and as far as government policy and society are concerned, the issue of crime victims is not discussed at all.” Adv. Handaqlu called to “make the necessary adjustments according to the needs of society and reality.”

Fathi Abu Younis, head of the Social Welfare Department in the Sakhnin Municipality, said “We are unable to provide services to crime victims, including hundreds of children who have been harmed mentally. We treat the parents and wives of murder victims and murderers, and often we find ourselves in a discussion about the removal of children from the homes of crime families, and the social worker must make the decision with a trembling hand. The Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs should set up an authority that will provide treatment to the family members of murder victims and murderers, at the national level.”

Jumana Muallem, head of the Social Welfare Department in Eilabun, said “People are afraid to receive services because they are terrified of divulging information that may endanger them. At times, the social workers do not want to be exposed to the information because they do not want to put themselves at risk. The social service agencies are helpless in the face of such a phenomenon.”
Adv. Hadas Gabriel-Zani of the Ministry of Justice said the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs currently operates two centers in the Arab sector that provide services to crime victims, once a week – in Tira and Kafr Kanna. In total, there are eight such centers in Israel. Adv. Gabriel-Zani noted that more than 300 murders occurred in 2024, of which 80% took place within the Arab community.
Addressing the statistics, MK Touma Sliman said two centers cannot provide a proper response for all the victims in the Arab sector and argued that the Negev region was ignored altogether. Summing up the debate, she said “It is obvious that the state and the existing services are not meeting the immense need that exists on the ground amid the raging crime.” MK Touma Sliman asked for more accurate data from the police and the Ministry of Welfare and Social Affairs about crime victims and the treatment they receive.  ​