The Higher Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel announced on Thursday, February 5, that it has begun preparations for a comprehensive, three-day general strike affecting all workers and institutions in Arab towns and communities in Israel.
According to Al-Ittihad and Zo Haderekh, this move is part of an escalating response to the rampant spread of crime and violence and a protest against the far-right government’s policies toward Arab Palestinian citizens of Israel. The decision was made during a meeting of the Committee’s Secretariat held at the Kafr Qara municipality hall and the committee clarified that the strike would last for three consecutive days, during which all economic activities will be halted, while ensuring communication with unions and social organizations to guarantee the success of the move and protect strikers from the risk of dismissal.
The massive protest against violence in the Arab community at Sakhnin, January 22, 2026 (Photo: Al-Ittihad)
The Follow-up Committee also approved organizing a “Disruption March”, tomorrow morning (Sunday), where convoys of cars will set off from various regions in the Galilee and merge with groups from Highways 2 and 1 towards Jerusalem, followed by a demonstration and a press conference at the Prime Minister Office to highlight the issue internationally and locally.
In the context of national preparations, the committee began preparing to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Land Day next March, by issuing hundreds of thousands of copies of a special booklet documenting the occasion. The Follow-up Committee also reiterated its condemnation of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip and denounced the repeated attacks by settlers in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem, and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Haaretz revealed on Friday that PM Benjamin Netanyahu, is seeking to evade responsibility for the horrific numbers of Arab casualties. At the same time, the Supreme Court postponed ruling on a petition demanding the dismissal of racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, despite his abysmal failure and interference in police work, while newspaper editorials described the situation as a deliberate destruction of the internal Palestinian home.
The killings triggered mass protests last month in Palestinian towns and joint Arab-Jewish demonstrations in Tel Aviv, with protesters accusing the authorities of failing to protect Palestinian citizens and allowing violence to spiral unchecked. Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman said the lack of decisive action reflected political priorities rather than operational constraints. “As much as those sitting in the ministries think they can keep crime only in Arab towns and villages, it doesn’t work like that,” she said in a recent Haaretz podcast interview on Friday. “There is no way to guarantee security for one group in the country when another group is suffering from neglect and the absence of state control.” She added that if Jewish communities were facing a comparable wave of killings, “the response would be immediate and forceful”.
Touma-Sliman also noted that roughly 90 percent of murder cases in Palestinian communities remain unsolved, a level of impunity she said emboldens criminal groups and deepens public mistrust in law enforcement.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=33227
