Protest convoys from across the country to head for Jerusalem in call for action on deadly crime in Arab society

Protest convoys calling for action on the deadly crime in Arab society will leave from the north, center and Negev desert and head to Jerusalem today.

The growing protests on the issue come amid a crime wave that has brought murder to Arab communities at unprecedented levels, with 252 killed last year, a nearly 300% rise from 2017. According to the Abraham Accords watchdog, 38 members of the Arab community have been killed in the violence so far this year.

The protesters are expected to gather outside the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

“We want to raise a loud cry about the severe distress of Arab society,” former Knesset member Jamal Zahalka, who heads the High Follow-Up Committee for the Arab Citizens of Israel, tells the Walla news site. “People are murdered and injured every day. Our entire society lives in fear of the criminal organizations, which, because of the deprivation, have become a state within a state.”

Protest leaders are also planning a three-day shut-down of economic activity in Arab communities in Israel, but a date has not yet been set for it, Haaretz reports.