A Deep, Funded and Measurable Solution Is Required |
In the midst of war, another war continues to be overlooked. One person murdered every day. An entire classroom lost every month.
Israel’s streets are bleeding from a lack of governance, and the numbers defy comprehension: as of February 18, 2026, the 49th day of the year, 51 Arab citizens have already been murdered in internal violence in society. The clearance rates? Disgraceful. Roughly 20% in cases involving Arab victims, compared to approximately 75% in cases involving Jewish victims.
In the face of this grim reality, ministers and coalition members attempt to obscure their government’s paralysis through a flood of statements bordering on the absurd: ‘Arabs choose to kill one another,’ or, ‘It’s a cultural problem.’ As if these were not human lives at stake, but an uncontrollable force of nature or some obscure TikTok trend.
The government’s echo chamber produces a steady stream of blame-shifting and deflection, but we cannot allow ourselves to be numbed by it. There is one simple fact: Israel has a government. It has ministers. They are not television commentators or social media influencers; they are entrusted with safeguarding the security of all the state’s citizens, including those who are currently observing Ramadan.
Arab society is an integral part of Israel’s economic and social fabric. Abandoning the personal security of its Arab citizens is neither a sectoral issue nor a ‘cultural problem;’ it is a direct blow to the resilience of the state itself. The crime rates in Arab communities are the direct result of years of governance vacuums, structural neglect, and the absence of effective enforcement.
Crime does not stop at the imaginary line between Tira and Ramat HaKovesh, or between Kafr Qasim and Rosh HaAyin. Criminal organizations do not recognize municipal boundaries or national identities. They recognize weakness. They recognize a vacuum.
We must stand as one —Jewish and Arab citizens, shoulder to shoulder—and demand from the government a comprehensive, funded, professional and measurable solution. Not tomorrow. Now.
The Prime Minister must present the public with a structured national plan to combat violent crime: a plan grounded in clear timelines, measurable targets, dedicated budgets, and an explicit division of responsibility among ministries. No more vague declarations about a “war on crime,” but a binding operational framework.
Alongside this, an implementation and oversight mechanism must be established under the leadership of the Prime Minister and with the full participation of all relevant ministries—Public Security, Finance, Welfare, Education, Health and others—working in collaboration with interdisciplinary experts. Such a plan must address not only the gun at the end of the chain, but the roots of the phenomenon: the shadow economy, protection rackets, illegal weapons, weak social infrastructure and the absence of economic opportunity.
Our demand as citizens must be clear and unequivocal: responsibility. Governance. No spin. No scapegoating. No more incendiary rhetoric from one elected official or another.
Personal security is not a favor the state grants its citizens—it is the foundational contract in whose name the state exists.
Jointly written with Merav (Boozy) Boaz, Deputy CEO of Tsofen-Tashbik.