Hundreds gathered in the northern town of Kafr Yasif on Thursday evening, October 23, in protest, demanding firmer police action against the crime wave.

Residents of the town were still mourning the recent death of Nidal Masadeh, a 35-year-old school security guard shot last week while at work. A first protest was held by Hadash and Communist Party of Israel members in Kfar Yasif on Thursday, October 16.

Thursday evening rally in Kfar Yassif (Photo: Al-Ittihad)

Among those demonstrating Thursday evening were Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, Mohammed Barakeh, chairman of the High Follow-up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and other prominent figures among Arab-Palestinian national minority in Israel. Protesters marched holding a banner in Arabic that read: “The police are neglecting their duty.” 

Barakeh, a senior member of the Communist Party of Israel, told the crowd: “The escalation of violence and crime is not a defect of the far-right government, it is not a mistake. Rather, this is a political project that the Israeli ruling establishment has put in place and has allowed criminal gangs to operate freely and has pumped weapons to them, not for the sake of killing so-and-so, but for ours to be a disjointed society, full of anxiety. We are possessed by the fear that runs through the hearts of mothers, who fear that when her son leaves the house, he will not return. They want to distract us from basic issues that fall into the core of Israeli policy. They want to get us out of the battle, the struggle for our rights, our land and our homes.”

Hadash MKs, Arab mayors and other public figures have insisted that police are neglecting the worsening rate of crime in their communities, citing a skyrocketing murder rate and law enforcement’s failure to solve most homicide cases.

On Thursday night, a 53-year-old man was killed in Tamra, after assailants ambushed him and his wife in the couple’s home. The victim, Muhammad Wafiq Hejazi, was the 209th Arab citizen to fall victim to homicide since the start of the year, as protests mounted against a violent crime wave that continues unabated in Arab cities and towns throughout Israel. Assailants broke into Hejazi’s home at around 9 p.m. and opened fire on him and his wife, who was moderately injured in the shooting. Both were taken to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa. Two hours later, Hejazi succumbed to his wounds.