Arab Israeli leader demands police action on violent crime, in rare Hebrew speech

By Charlie Summers

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31 January 2026, 10:21 pm

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Arab-Israeli community leader Jamal Zahalka speaks at a protest against violence in the Arab community, in Tel Aviv on January 31, 2026. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Speaking to Jewish and Arab protesters in Tel Aviv, Jamal Zahalka, head of the leading body representing Israel’s Arab minority, accuses the current government of fueling violent crime in the community.

It marks a rare instance in which Zahalka, who leads the High Follow-Up Committee, speaks in Hebrew before a large Jewish audience.

Though Arab and liberal Jewish MKs are in attendance, none have gone up to speak as organizers seek to keep the demonstration at a distance from party politics.

Zahalka calls the massive demonstration a “cry against crime and against the government feeding it,” accusing the state of “fueling crime organizations and criminals who murder, extort and threaten.”

“The false and racist argument that this [crime] is a cultural problem is not new,” he continues, saying 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 [Arab Israelis] are very similar to the West Bank and Jordan, where the number of murders is less than one for every 100,000 people,” he says.

Meanwhile, among Israel’s Arab citizens, the homicide rate is over 15 for every 100,000 people.

A woman holds a sign in which the phrase ‘human beings’ is written in Hebrew and Arabic, at a protest calling for action to stop organized crime in the Arab community, in Tel Aviv on January 31, 2026. (Avshalom Sassoni/FLASH90)

Zahalka blames 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 decries National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir as the “minister of crime,” and is met with enthusiastic agreement from the crowd, jeering his name.

He briefly addresses the IDF’s strike in Rafah earlier today, saying that he “cannot ignore what happened in Gaza today” as a representative for Israel’s Arab minority.

“We condemn the ceasefire violations in Gaza, the continuing killing in Gaza and call on the government to guard over the ceasefire,” he says.

He ends his speech with a series of demands, urging law enforcement to “wring out” criminal organizations, round up guns from off the streets and solve murder cases in Arab society.