Visiting north, Herzog says Israel has ‘moral obligation’ to tackle crime in Arab society

President Isaac Herzog meets with Arab mayors and bereaved families of homicide victims in northern Israel.

His office says he spoke with more than a dozen Arab mayors in Sakhnin, a city from which a wave of anti-crime protests has emerged in recent days.

The president also visits Ali Zbedat, the owner of a supermarket chain in the city who sparked a general strike in Arab society after going public about having been threatened by criminal organizations. Zbedat shuttered his franchise until further notice after revealing the attempts to extort him, and other businessmen in the city soon followed suit, which morphed into a general strike in Arab cities and towns nationwide.

Herzog also meets with Qasem Awad, the father of slain pediatrician Abdallah Awad, who was gunned down at the start of last year while filling in for a fellow doctor at a clinic in Kafr Yasif. The head of state expresses his condolences to Awad and his family, calling his son’s killing a “criminal and incomprehensible act.”

“The fight against crime and violence in Arab society must be at the very top of the national priorities and be addressed with the utmost determination,” Herzog says. “This is a national mission and a moral obligation. We must erase this stain from the face of Israeli society.”

Speaking to Herzog, the bereaved father says that the government has a “basic obligation” to protect its Arab citizens.

“Do not push us into the backyard. We are law-abiding citizens, people who want to live in peace, with dignity and security,” he says. “If the government decides that the fight against crime is a top priority, it will also know how to do it.”

Last year was the deadliest year for Israel’s Arab minority, with 252 people killed in crime-related incidents. The homicide rate doubled in 2023, coinciding with the start of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir’s tenure, and has continued to rise apace since.