Hundreds protest racist violence in Jaffa after Arab woman allegedly pepper-sprayed by Jews

Hundreds of Arab residents of Jaffa march in protest after a pregnant woman from the community was allegedly pepper-sprayed by Jews while she was driving her car in the city’s Ajami neighborhood earlier today.

Footage published by the Arab48 news site shows protesters marching to the site of the attack while chanting: “Tell the Shin Bet dogs, we’re not afraid of conflict.”

يافا: المئات يتظاهرون إثر اعتداء عنصري لمستوطنين على امرأة عربية وأطفالها ورشهم بغاز الفلفل

التفاصيل: https://t.co/88D7581jls pic.twitter.com/bHdKn1XMKv

— موقع عرب 48 (@arab48website) December 13, 2025

Speaking to the protesters, former lawmaker and Tel Aviv-Jaffa council member Sami Abu Shehadeh accuses the government of complicity in the attack, which he says included verbal abuse and spitting on the woman, according to Arab48.

“This assault is not an individual incident, but rather a new episode in a systematic policy targeting the people of Jaffa and our Palestinian nation at large,” says Abu Shehadeh, head of the Palestinian nationalist Balad party, Arab48 reports.

“We hold the police and Israeli government fully responsible for this assault, and for every assault like it,” says Abu Shehadeh. “Official silence is complicity in the crime.”

Abu Shehadeh refers to the assailants as settlers. It’s unclear if his intention is to Jews living in the West Bank, in Jaffa, or in Israel generally.

كلمة رئيس حزب التجمع الوطني الديمقراطي، سامي أبو شحادة، خلال تظاهرة منددة باعتداء مستوطنين على امرأة عربية وأطفالها في مدينة يافا

التفاصيل: https://t.co/88D7581Rb0 pic.twitter.com/4koa5u4kAb

— موقع عرب 48 (@arab48website) December 13, 2025

According to Arab48, the protest march follows a public gathering called shortly after the woman was pepper-sprayed in Jaffa.

Police said earlier that the woman was pepper-sprayed following an argument with her assailants, and that she admitted herself to a hospital for medical care. Officers were searching for suspects and did not make any arrests, according to the police statement, which did not specify the nationality of either the victim or the assailants.