Minutes before the start of the demonstration in Tel Aviv, another victim was struck on Saturday: in the city of Lod (Arabic: Al-Lyd), a few kilometers away, a masked man shot a 25-year-old on the street in broad daylight. The man killed, Omer Taysir al-Shamali, is the 23rd victim in a wave of murders Palestinians with Israeli citizenship – since the beginning of the year alone. Observers blame this on systematic neglect by the police among the right-wing extremists Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir responsible.
“I am not here to cry, but to scream,” shouted Hitam Abu Fani, mother of Fares Abu Fani, who was shot dead last year, in Habima Square that evening. “I don’t want revenge, I want justice and protection.” 40,000 participants came from all over the country, primarily from the Palestinian Arab minority, which makes up around a fifth of the Israeli population – but also Jewish-Israeli government critics.
Many participants carried black flags, which have become a symbol of a growing movement against the killings of Israel’s Palestinian population. A group of participants held up photos of relatives who had been killed. Others chanted in Arabic and Hebrew demanding Ben-Gvir’s resignation and demanding that Arab citizens of Israel be protected as well as Jewish ones.
The police are practicing “deadly restraint” in many Arab towns, said Jamal Zahalka, the chairman of the umbrella organization of the Arab minority in Israel, which called for the protest. Since the partly right-wing extremist government under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu took office three years ago, murder rates in the Arab-Palestinian communities have risen sharply – from around 100 to 250 cases per year.
The election campaign in Israel has begun
Ben-Gvir has forced out numerous experienced police commanders and replaced them with loyal candidateswho are close to his national religious ideology. Organized crime and protection rackets are spreading in many Arab towns. Zahalka demanded that the police take action against criminal groups, confiscate weapons and solve murder cases.
The protests gained momentum last week after shopkeepers in the town of Sakhnin in northern Israel went on strike following threats from criminal gangs. The movement could be a “turning point” that brings Jewish and Palestinian Israelis together, Palestinian-Israeli politician Ayman Odeh told the Times of Israel. According to surveys, neither Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing extremist government coalition nor the opposition has achieved a majority in the run-up to Israel’s parliamentary elections this year. Against this background, Arab parties could play a key role.
The election campaign has long since begun for the Israeli government. It relies on the narrative of the events since then Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 to turn in their favor. The Israeli government’s hostage coordinator, Gal Hirsch, told the relatives of the ex-hostages over the weekend that they had “reinforced” Hamas propaganda over the past two and a half years with their protests for an agreement and a prisoner exchange.
Former Hamas hostage Or Levy outragedly rejected these allegations in an open letter on Sunday. And accused Hirsch and the government of abandoning the abductees. “Your campaign is the only thing that matters to you,” he wrote.
What’s next in the Gaza Strip?
What happens next in the Gaza Strip is also likely to play a role in the election campaign. US President Donald Trump’s peace plan calls for a gradual withdrawal of the Israeli army and the disarmament of Hamas. However, the radical Islamic group has so far rejected demilitarization.
For its part, the Israeli army shows no signs of withdrawing from the so-called yellow line, behind which it continues to occupy more than 50 percent of the Gaza Strip. Israeli soldiers have killed more than 500 Palestinians in Gaza since the ceasefire began. According to Palestinian sources, more than 30 people, including women and children, died in one of the worst series of attacks on Saturday. The military said it had previously spotted several armed Palestinians.
A small step forward in the spirit of the Trump plan could be the reopening of the Rafah border crossing. It connects the coastal strip with Egypt. Tests are to be carried out on Sunday, and passenger traffic in both directions is to begin on Monday – after Israel’s leadership had delayed this for a long time.