More than 70,000 of Arab and Jewish protesters marched Saturday evening, January 31, in Tel-Aviv calling on the government to act against violent crime in Arab society. The demonstration started from the Tel Aviv Museum Square and made its way to Habima Square, protesting the escalation of crime and the lack of security and safety in the Arab community, as well as expressing their disapproval of the far-right government and police for their collusion with organized crime.
Protesters waved black flags, which have become the chief symbol of the burgeoning movement against crime in Arab communities. Other signs read in English “Arab Lives Matter,” borrowing the phrasing of the US-based Black Lives Matter movement. The rally was organized by the High Follow-Up Committee, the leading body for Arab citizens of Israel, to capture the attention of the Jewish public and win support for Arab society’s struggle against organized crime. Among protesters, Hadash-Ta’al lawmakers and thousands of Hadash and Communist Party of Israel activists.
The protest at Habima Square against violence in the Arab community in Tel Aviv, January 31, 2026 (Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
During the gathering, participants chanted slogans accusing the police of negligence, raised black flags, and held signs with slogans written on them, including “How long will humiliation last?”, “Fight crime and unite arms”, and “Stop the crime war.” A banner at the front of the march reads in Hebrew: “Enough of the abandonment and crime, we want to live.”
The Tel Aviv rally followed a mass protest last Thursday in Sakhnin, where about 50,000 people demonstrated against protection rackets, shootings and extortion targeting businesses, homes and vehicles. Professionals including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists and engineers took part after striking during the day followed by stand-ins and demonstrations in other towns, culminating in the nationwide protest in Tel Aviv, and he comes amid growing criticism of law enforcement for its failure to curb the phenomenon.
As protesters convene in Tel Aviv, first responders announce that a man has been shot dead in Lod, marking the 26th homicide in Arab society since the start of the year. Rahat Mayor Talal al-Krenawi said in his speech at the protest in Habima Square that “we have been living in the Negev before the state’s establishment. We are not criminals, not offenders and we do not steal land from the state. A minister comes and says: ‘I will crush you; I am the owner.’ The owners are the citizens – not one minister or another.” According to him, “The Prime Minister comes and says, ‘I discovered Negev.’ Thank God you discovered the Negev. We will indeed flock to the polling stations, the sane Israeli citizens, to eliminate racism, division and discrimination, and strengthen coexistence between us.”
High Follow-Up Committee chairman Dr. Jamal Zahalka spoke, accusing the far-right government of “fueling crime organizations and criminals who murder, extort and threaten.” Zahalka called the massive demonstration a “cry against crime and against the government feeding it” and declared that “it is time to cancel the silent agreement between the police and criminal organizations.”
“The false and racist argument that this crime is a ‘cultural problem’ is not new,” he said, claiming the same argument has been used against Mizrahi Jews in Israel, as well as Black Americans. This argument collapses with a simple comparison. Socially and culturally, we [Palestinian Arabs in Israel] are very similar to the West Bank and Jordan, where the number of murders is less than one for every 100,000 people,” he said. Meanwhile, among Israel’s Arab citizens, the homicide rate is over 15 for every 100,000 people.
Zahalka blamed law enforcement for the sky-high rate, accusing police of practicing a “policy of deadly restraint” when it comes to crime in Arab society.
He also decried National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as the “minister of crime,” and was met with enthusiastic agreement from the crowd, which jeered the racist politician’s name.
Family members of victims also addressed the rally. Khatam Abu Fana, whose son Firas was killed at his workplace, described the ongoing pain of losing her child, saying she wakes up every day grieving a son who “did nothing wrong and was murdered in cold blood.” Prof. Barak Medina, former rector of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, said the rally aimed to show solidarity with Arab citizens facing “pain, fear, and frustration,” and accused the government and police of failing in their basic duty to protect life. “The struggle is a shared struggle,” Medina said, describing it as a joint effort of Arab and Jewish citizens, and urging a commitment to equal protection and equal rights in security, education, health, housing, budgets, and infrastructure.
Veteran actress Rivka Michaeli told demonstrators she came because she felt afraid, warning that the ongoing disregard for deadly violence in Arab society was spreading across the country. Michaeli spoke about coexistence in Israel’s hospitals and said an Arab surgeon had saved her life.
After the mass meeting, Hadash MK Ayman Odeh said that the protest must serve as a “turning point” to unite Jews and Arab in Israel. He wrote om X “Tonight was a special night, because after more than two tough years for our people, hope finally prevailed. Seventy thousand protesters gathered in Tel Aviv, people from every corner: north, center, and south; Arabs and Jews, Israelis and Palestinians, all together, with one clear message: Enough of the intentional neglect by the government, and enough of organized crime. We want to live. Our children want to live! Thank you to all my partners, and to everyone who came and filled this square. My heart, and the hearts of more than 2,000,000 Arab citizens, are full of hope again. Together, and only together, we shall prevail.”
“Tonight, protest was important to building block for the common struggles of Jewish and Arab society,” he told The Times of Israel while picking up trash left in the plaza after the demonstration. Odeh said the demonstration could mark the start of massive Arab participation in protests against Israel’s current right-wing government. “It is also an opportunity to call on Arab citizens to partake in protests against the coup,” referring to the far-right overhaul, and more broadly, the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition. “This is a common struggle for all of us.”
In addition, Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman labeled policing in Arab communities “collective punishment,” noting that when Jews are victims of violence, police often set up roadblocks in neighboring Arab towns, flood areas with officers and arrest suspects en masse. “The only side that can be able to smash a mafia is the state and the state is doing nothing except let organized crime understand that they are free to do whatever they want,” she said. Many communities feel impunity has gotten worse, she added, under Minister Ben Gvir, who with authority over the police has launched aggressive and visible campaigns against other crimes, targeting protests and pushing for tougher operations in occupied East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33214
