This week, the Israeli government voted to cut NIS 220.7 million ($68.5 million) from a five-year development plan for Arab communities and to divert the funds to the Israel Police, and for the first time, also to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency), ostensibly to combat the rise in violence in Arab society.

Yet a careful examination of the budget sources, the method of diversion, and their implications shows that this is not a technical correction or a minor shift in priorities, but a broad move that undermines the strategic logic on which the plan rested from the outset.

In October 2021, the government passed Resolution 550 – a plan for Arab society that, rather than offering patchwork of short-term solutions to crime and socioeconomic challenges, provided a comprehensive investment of NIS 30 billion ($8.3 billion) aiming to serve as an integrative growth engine connecting education, employment, welfare, health, and transportation into a clear path for the full integration of Arab citizens into the Israeli economy.

Resolution 550 was designed to reduce gaps in Arab society, not a specific response to violence and crime. Still, while reducing disparities in education, employment, planning, public services, and community resilience is, first and foremost, a matter of democratic values and equal opportunity, consistent........

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