Palestinians in Israel strike to protest government inaction over rampant crime

JERUSALEM — Tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem this week to demand action against a wave of organized crime and government indifference currently localizing in Israel’s Palestinian communities.

The demonstrations were sparked by Ali Zbeedat, a shop owner in the town of Sakhnin, who shuttered his business after facing repeated shootings and death threats from gunmen. His decision triggered a wave of strikes as other Sakhnin businesses closed in solidarity, eventually evolving into mass protests involving both Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel.

Violence has reached record levels in 2025, with 252 Palestinians murdered in Israel so far this year. Activists point to systemic issues as the catalyst for the bloodshed, noting that high unemployment and a 38% poverty rate among Palestinian households have allowed criminal organizations to flourish.

Large-scale gangs have seized control of significant commercial sectors within Palestinian towns, according to local reports. Critics and community leaders blame the escalating crisis on a lack of police presence and the leadership of National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The current wave of protests by Palestinian citizens of Israel represents far more than a localized reaction to rising crime; it is the culmination of decades of systemic grievance. At the heart of the unrest is the charge of "state indifference"—a perception among many residents that the government’s failure to act is not a matter of logistical incapacity, but rather a deliberate policy of strategic neglect toward their communities.

Significantly, the participation of Jewish Israelis in these demonstrations suggests the crisis has transcended minority politics to become a national referendum on the breakdown of the rule of law. This domestic instability exposes a glaring paradox: a state that maintains one of the world’s most sophisticated security and intelligence apparatuses appears either incapable of, or unwilling to, confront organized crime syndicates operating within its own borders.

Looming over the crisis are allegations that certain criminal families maintain ties to, or receive protection from, the Shin Bet internal security service. If substantiated, such claims would fundamentally hollow out any remaining public trust in state institutions. The presence of far-right figures like Itamar Ben-Gvir in key national security posts has only sharpened this divide, reinforcing the view that the executive branch is an adversary rather than an arbiter of justice. These deepening internal fractures pose a significant challenge to Israeli social cohesion and risk further complicating the nation’s international standing, already under intense pressure from the ongoing conflict in Gaza.