Protests and strikes took place across Arab cities and towns in Israel on Wednesday evening and into Thursday, January 22, amid growing anger over rising crime rates and what demonstrators describe as Israeli police complicity and failure to provide protection. Holding black flags, tens of thousands of protesters chant in Arabic: “Ben Gvir, you miserable man, Arab blood isn’t cheap,” amid mounting anger over the racist National Security minister’s handling of the issue, alongside slogans critical of the police, including “The police are complicit” and “The police are absent. Crime is rising.” The protests reflected mounting frustration over deteriorating personal security and the spread of organized crime in Arab localities.
Tens of thousands of protesters chant in Arabic: “Ben Gvir, you miserable man, Arab blood isn’t cheap,” during the massive demonstration held in Sakhnin, Thursday, January 22, 2026 (Photo: Zo Haderech)
Participants on their way to the demonstration reported that some of the roads in the area were closed and that they were having difficulty reaching the protest site due to a large police force presence. Hadash MK Aida Touma-Suliman said, “Ten of thousands are waiting inside Sakhnin, thousands are being held up at the entrance to the city by the police on their way to join them.” She added, “The Arab public has decided that we will no longer remain silent in the face of the bloodthirsty government’s lawlessness. Today we protest so that we can live tomorrow.”
In the Negev, the Forum of Heads of Arab Local Authorities called for a mass demonstration in Rahat under the slogan “One people, one destiny, one future.” Medical professionals in Sakhnin including local doctors and nurses, and in mayor medical centers across Israel said they would take part in the strike as a “clear protest” against the continued failure to safeguard lives in Arab society. Before the nationwide strike, Sakhnin shut down for three days, with prominent business owners closing their doors following a particularly harrowing wave of shootings at local establishments.
Several Hadash and Communist Party of Israel activists joined the protest and called on as many people as possible to take part. Hadash MK Ayman 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. “The general strike is a significant step on the path toward civil disobedience by peaceful means. What began with a single shop owner in Sakhnin who said ‘enough’ to the phenomenon of protection rackets has quickly spread to all our cities and communities,” he says.
After the massive demonstration, Hadash and three Arab parties – Ra’am, Ta’al, and Balad – signed an agreement to work toward re-establishing the Joint List bloc. The parties’ representatives, Hadash’s Odeh, Ra’am’s MK Mansour Abbas, Ta’al’s MK Ahmed Tibi, and Balad’s former MK Sami Abu Shehadeh were in Sakhnin, as part of a nationwide general.
Hadash and the Arab parties have for months been in talks to revive the list, which seemed halted amid internal fights between Islamist Ra’am and the other parties, mainly over Abbas’s demand for the bloc to be merely a technical alliance to allow him the option to split after the elections and join a Zionist governing coalition separately.
MK Odeh later stated after the signing that the establishment of the Joint List “is the true will of our public.” “We will do everything to ensure that the Joint List is established and strengthened,” he added. The Hadash spokesperson has said that the meetings to re-establish the Joint List were held “in an open and honest atmosphere,” adding that “disagreements between the parties were discussed.”
Today morning, at the Haaretz Democracy Conference in Tel Aviv, titled “From Coup to Resistance,” MK Odeh commented on the front’s decision to unite with the Arab parties ahead of the upcoming election, saying that while the different factions have disagreements, “the biggest rift is not between us. It is between the far-right government and all of our public.” “We cannot let this government continue under any circumstances,” Odeh said, warning that another term for Ben-Gvir would be “disastrous for Arab society and all democratic citizens in Israel.”
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33201
