We are only at the beginning of February 2026, one month into the year, and the numbers are horrific. Just yesterday, three more young men were murdered in cold blood, and since the start of the year, 31 people have been killed in Israel\u2019s Arab society. Nearly one murder a day. 2025 was the deadliest in the country\u2019s history, with 252 murders \u2013 an unimaginable figure that places Israel\u2019s Arab community alongside countries such as Mexico and Colombia in homicide rates.<\/p>\n
But in Israel, these statistics hit a wall of indifference. For many Israelis, this is \u201can Arab problem\u201d that might also be of interest to a few \u201cleftists.\u201d This indifference is a strategic and first-order moral mistake, and it is even more dangerous when it comes from those who constantly preach \u201cgovernance\u201d and \u201csovereignty.\u201d Anyone who thinks the rampant violence in Arab towns is \u201ctheir problem\u201d is, in effect, abandoning Israeli sovereignty in significant parts of the country. You cannot sustain a \u201cstate within a state.\u201d We cannot have a Wild West in the Galilee (where about 42 percent of last year\u2019s murders occurred) and expect the rest of Israel to remain safe and law-abiding. A vacuum of governance cannot be contained within Kafr Qasim\u2019s municipal border.<\/p>\n
This approach poses a direct security threat to all Israeli citizens. The illegal weapons used today to settle scores between clans could tomorrow be turned against security forces or civilians in mixed cities. Worse still, the crime organizations that have flourished under this neglect no longer limit themselves to \u201cinternal debt collection.\u201d They take over state tenders, extort Jewish contractors and farmers in the Negev and the north through protection rackets, and affect both public security and the cost of living for all of us. When the Israel Police only manages to solve about 15% of the murder cases in Arab society, they project weakness \u2013 and in the Middle East, weakness is an invitation to attack. Deterrence eroded in the face of crime families in Jaljulia will not be magically restored when confronting crime in Netanya or nationalist terror in Jerusalem. Sovereignty is not a buffet. You cannot choose to enforce it only where it is convenient and pleasant. Policing vacuums are ultimately filled by lawless militias.<\/p>\n
Beyond the clear security and governance interest, there is also a Jewish moral issue that cannot be ignored. A Jewish state cannot accept a reality in which blood is spilled like water in its streets, even when that blood is not Jewish. The data also shows a shocking rise in the murder of innocent women and children. Indifference in the face of this daily screaming is a moral stain on Israeli society as a whole. A posture of \u201csitting idly by\u201d in the face of this horror does not reflect national strength, but a collapse of values. Some blame this reality on \u201cArab culture.\u201d Indeed, according to the JPPI Israeli Society Index, 33% of Israelis believe the main reason for the scourge of Arab-on-Arab violence is \u201ca cultural matter.\u201d But that is beside the point. As long as this is the reality, confronting violence in Arab society is the responsibility of the state and the police \u2013 and it is a supreme national interest. The reason is simple: you cannot maintain a strong army, a thriving economy, and a healthy society while parts of the country are run by criminal gangs.<\/p>\n
It is time to change the paradigm: an iron fist against crime, aggressive confiscation of illegal weapons, and meaningful cooperation with leaders of the Arab sector. This must go hand in hand with addressing the root causes \u2013 neglect and resource gaps \u2013 that worsen the situation and serve criminals rather than the State of Israel. Arabs who want to live have a clear interest in this, but first and foremost, it is an existential interest of Israel as a sovereign state governed by the rule of law. Whoever gives up on enforcing the law in Taybeh will eventually forfeit governance in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n