Ben Gvir ridicules nationwide Arab sector strike over police failure to stem crime wave

National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir ridicules a nationwide strike taking place among Israel’s Arab citizens today over the police’s failure to rein in crime, accusing Arab leaders of fueling the violence.

“The local Arab leadership, as usual, is speaking in two voices. On one hand they are shouting, ‘the police are incompetent’ and on the other hand, stand beside criminal organizations and oppose the police’s every action in Arab towns,” he says.

The far-right minister says that widespread opposition to a recent string of heavy-handed police raids in Bedouin towns — one of which saw the lethal police shooting of an Arab man on his doorstep — is evidence of local leaders’ purported support for crime.

Arab society experienced its deadliest year on record in 2025, with 252 homicide victims. Already this year, 20 people have lost their lives to violent crime. Polling in the past year has shown that the vast majority of Arab society lacks trust in law enforcement.

Ben Gvir says he has budgeted “tremendous resources for the war against crime and criminal organizations,” claiming his tenure has seen record numbers of arrests and billions of shekels’ worth of property seizures.

He accuses local Arab politicians of “turning a blind eye to criminal activity and doing nothing to actually prevent crime.”

Meanwhile, Arab leadership calls on the masses to participate in a march this afternoon in the northern city of Sakhnin, demanding law enforcement stamp out the protection racketeering that has taken a major toll on Arab-owned businesses.

Before today’s 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.

Hadash-Ta’al chairman MK Ayman Odeh says the 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.

“We will strike, we will protest and we will fight for the lives of all of us, until our children can live with dignity and security,” he declares.