Hadash MK Ayman Odeh invites on Monday, January 26, Israeli Jews to attend a mass demonstration in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening and join their Arab counterparts’ struggle “to live in personal security.” “On Saturday night in Tel Aviv, there will be a huge demonstration. We call on the Jewish public to come and participate with us,” declares Odeh, who is flanked by the families of Arab victims of crime during the weekly Hadash-Ta’al faction meeting in the Knesset. “There is no half democracy, and there is no half equality, and there is no half living together; this is the struggle of all of us to live in personal security,” he adds.
MK Ayman Odeh, right, and members of Hadash during the protest against the violence in Arab community, Sakhnin, January 22, 2026 (Photo: Michael Giladi/Flash90)
The Arab leadership in Israel last Thursday held a nationwide general strike over the police’s failure to stem an ongoing wave of violent crime and near-daily killings besetting the community. On Monday morning demonstrations were being held at Tel-Aviv, Haifa and Bar-Ilan universities. Afternoon another protest was held by Tel-Aviv and Jaffa Hadash activists in front the Tel-Aviv municipality.
On Monday evening, Hadash Secretary Amjad Shbita, held a Zoom meeting with representatives of 90 movements and organizations who join the Arab leadership call, among them: Partnership for Peace, Hadash, Combatants for Peace, the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families for Peace, Combatants for Peace, Zazim, Women Wage Peace, Standing Together, Peace Now, Ir Amim, Mehazkim, Abraham Initiatives, Rabbis for Human Rights, Mizrahi Civic Collective, The Faithful Left, Mothers Against Violence, Mothers’ Cry, Itach-Ma’aki – Women Lawyers for Social Justice, Breaking the Silence, Kahanism, Racism and Homophobia – Not In Our School, Young Communist League, Machsom Watch, Torat Tzedek, Isha l’Isha – Feminist Center in Haifa, Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights, Emek Shaveh, Looking the Occupation in the Eye,Academia for Equality, Wahat al-Salam/Neve Shalom and TANDI- Democratic Women Movement in Israel.
In 2025, by far was the deadliest year, 255 Palestinians were killed by gangs. Already this year, not yet a month old, 24 people have been killed in incidents linked to criminal networks. Just 10-15 percent of the murder cases are solved by the police, a reflective of deliberate far-right governments’ policy.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33211
