Police impeding progress of convoy protesting deadly violence in Arab society, organizers say

Organizers of a Jerusalem-bound convoy protesting the government’s perceived neglect of violent crime in Arab society say police are trying to prevent participants from driving on their route.

“The police are trying to disperse the cars and are themselves creating horrible traffic — the goal is to impede the Arab public’s protest,” says organizer Amjad Shbita.

Hundreds of cars are expected to reach the Prime Minister’s Office at around 3 p.m. today.

Footage shared by organizers shows several Border Police officers in neon work-vests after they appear to have pulled over several cars to the side of the highway.

“We are protesting, not impeding,” says Yousef Jabarin, a former Hadash MK in the convoy, to officers on the road. He adds that the reason they are demonstrating at all is because police “aren’t doing their job.”

In another clip, a Border Police officer is seen demanding one of the convoy participants disclose his ID number, and when asked to provide a reason, says it is because he is disrupting traffic.

He then tells the demonstrator to get in his car and drive away.

Police have not responded to a request for comment.

Border Police officer asks participant in Jerusalem-bound protest convoy against surging crime in Arab society for his ID, says he is obstructing traffic

Organizers say police are trying to prevent them from continuing on their route to the Prime Minister's Office pic.twitter.com/azRCwt3kg1

— charlie summers (@cbsu03) February 8, 2026

So far this year, Arab society has seen 38 deaths in violent circumstances, 11 of them since the start of February.

The sharp uptick in Arab society’s already soaring homicide rate has spurred the community to hold near-daily protests in recent weeks, including a recent massive rally in Tel Aviv a week ago, demanding police take action to rein in the violence.