Hadash students at all Israeli universities organized, on Monday, January 12, a series of protest sit-ins against the spread of violence and crime in the Arab Palestinian community and in condemnation of the complicity and failure of the police to confront it. Several students at the universities of Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa, Beer Sheva and the Technion took part on Monday in the demonstrations, chanted slogans accusing the police of negligence and raised banners bearing phrases such as “The government and the police are partners in crime,” alongside photos of victims who were killed.
Students at Tel Aviv university rally against the violence in the Arab community, among them Adel Amer, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Israel, January 12, 2025 (Photo: Erik Marmor/Flash90)
At Tel Aviv University the students organized a protest demonstration in Entin Square outside the university, with the participation of dozens of students and Communist Party leading members denouncing the Israeli government’s failure and the police’s complicity in confronting rampant crime in the Arab Palestinian community The protest began with the erection of a protest tent at the university entrance, as part of escalation steps aimed at pressuring the Israeli authorities to assume their responsibility in combating crime. Students also raised banners reading: “Where the police fail, innocents are killed,” “Behind every number is a family,” “The government and the police are partners in crime,” and “From the university to the neighborhood, the police are treacherous.”
On Monday evening a conference focusing on harsh claims against Israel Prison Service (IPS) servicemembers, was held in the protest tent after the university ban the event in the campus. The organizers of the conference “Behind Bars”, Hadash students caucus and lecturers from Academia for Equality claim that Israel kills, tortures, and starves prisoners.
The invitation to the conference claims that “in the past years, 110 Palestinian prisoners and detainees died in prison in Israel, and that thousands are being held in administrative detention or as illegal combatants without indictments and without a release date.” It also claims that prison conditions include hunger, illness, humiliation, rape, and beatings, and that the claims are recorded in human rights organizations’ reports. The conference was addressed by Attorney Sausan Zahar from the Adalah organization and the Faculty of Law Human Rights Clinic, Naji Abbas from Physicians for Human Rights and Adv. Ben Marmarelli.
In addition, one thousand of protesters gathered Sunday morning outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem to protest how the police have handled crime in the Arab community under racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir. The protest was organized by the Higher Follow-Up Committee; Hadash Knesset’s lawmakers as well leading Hadash and Communist Party of Israel members were present at the demonstration. Protesters chant in Arabic: “Hey police, hey police, Arab blood isn’t cheap,” and call to “free Tarabin al-Sana,” an Arab Bedouin town in the Negev that was subject to a two week police raid up until the same day, in which one resident, Muhammad Hussein Tarabin, was shot dead by an officer at his front door. On Saturday evening, Hadash activists blocked the Misgav Junction at the Galilee and gathered in Nazareth demanding firmer police action against the crime wave.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33179
