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Violence Continues to Plague Israeli Arab Communities
Then Prime Minister Naftali Bennett speaks with Mansour Abbas, leader of the Islamist party Raam at the Knesset in Jerusalem, June 13, 2021. Photo: EMMANUEL DUNAND / AFP
Medics found Khaled Ahmed Hussein’s black pickup truck wrapped around a tree in Deir Hanna in northern Israel; the front windows were shattered. Assailants shot and killed Hussein, the cousin of the town council chief, last week.
Hussein was the 124th Arab citizen of Israel to be murdered since the start of the year, putting 2024 on pace to be the bloodiest year on record for the country’s Arab communities. Hussein’s murder illustrates the checkered progress of a minority that comprises around 20 percent of Israel’s population.
Prior to Hamas’ October 7 massacre, Israeli Arabs were enduring a wave of internal violence. 2023 was by far the deadliest year for Israeli Arab communities, eclipsing the previous year’s record number of killings. The situation had gotten so bad that community leaders, normally reluctant to involve the state in internal matters, asked Israeli intelligence services to help.
Most of the killings have resulted from gang violence or intimidation. This violence is filling the vacuum left by Israel’s crackdown on Jewish crime families in the early 2000s. Even politicians and their families have increasingly become targets, possibly to intimidate them into giving criminals free rein. In a separate incident on the day of Hussein’s murder, an Israeli court indicted two cousins for murdering a security guard for Taybeh’s mayor back in April.
An inability to repay loansharking debts has led to many of these murders. In some cases, Israeli Arabs borrow from within their community out of distrust or disdain for the formal Israeli banking system. But Israeli banks can also be reluctant to meet the borrowing needs of Israeli Arabs, who often lack the collateral needed to secure loans. Relatedly, Israeli Arab communities tend to suffer from state neglect, inferior education, and high poverty rates. But internal factors, such as the breakdown of family structures and high indebtedness, have also led to this problem.
Hamas’ deadly October 7 rampage through southern Israel overshadowed the internal Arab violence. The terrorist group did not discriminate between Arabs and Jews. To Hamas, both were Israeli and therefore marked for death.
That dark day also witnessed rays of hope and humanity, as Israeli Arabs risked their lives to rescue their Jewish compatriots. For example, Hamas murdered medic Awad Darawshe as he treated wounded Israelis. Many Israeli Arabs are serving in the Israeli army, and some have even paid the ultimate price to defend the state.
An Israel Democracy Institute (IDI) poll published in November 2023 found that 70 percent of Israeli Arabs felt connected to the state, up from 48 percent before the war. And internal violence plummeted in the final two months of 2023.
But perhaps that was a blip. Some Israeli Arabs might have temporarily felt a sense of unity and loyalty. An increased police presence and Israeli security forces’ elevated alertness might have convinced crime families to lay low. But now the murders have resumed, and a March IDI poll found that Israeli Arab affiliation with the state reverted to its pre-war levels.
Progress for the Arab sector in Israel has been on a whiplash trajectory for years. In March 2015, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu used Arab high voter turnout as a political bogeyman. But in December, his government allocated billions of dollars to the Arab sector, ameliorating the “poverty and underdevelopment” that have contributed to the “acute crisis of violence and crime,” according to a leading non-profit focused on Israeli Arabs.
During Israel’s clash with Hamas in May 2021, some Arabs in mixed cities launched attacks on their Jewish neighbors. Weeks later, Naftali Bennett and Yair Lapid shattered the taboo on including Arabs in the governing coalition. The new approach bore fruit in October, when the Bennett-Lapid coalition allocated even more money to the Arab sector and launched a five-year plan to curb violence and crime in Israeli Arab communities.
However, at a time of heightened Israeli-Palestinian tensions, Benjamin Netanyahu tried to make the coalition’s inclusion of an Arab party a political liability. This, coupled with destabilizing moves by the Arab party, contributed to the government’s downfall. Netanyahu’s new government froze — but ultimately released — $50 million from the Bennett-Lapid plan. In a more symbolic development, on July 7, the Netanyahu government approved the establishment of Israel’s first museum of Arab culture.
But some Israeli Arab extremists have played a part in stunting their integration into Israeli society. In October, the Arab owner of a bike shop in Taybeh donated bikes to nearby Jewish kids affected by the Hamas attacks. A few days later, Israeli Arab extremists looted and torched his shop. And since October 7, such extremists have carried out numerous attacks on their Jewish countrymen, creating further distrust and tension among their respective communities.
Progress in Israeli Arab integration has often been two steps forward and one step back, and sometimes even one step forward and two steps back. With the post-October 7 moment of unity now in the rearview mirror, the state must work hard to gain the trust of its Arab citizens. But Israeli Arabs must also diligently secure their integration; integration is a two-way street. This is the only way Arabs and Jews can live securely in their shared country.
David May is a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), where Noy Barel is a research intern. FDD is a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow David on X @DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X @FDD.
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Media Twisted Israeli Retaliatory Strike on Houthi Targets, Calling It an ‘Attack’
There is a problem with how Israel’s retaliation for the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv is being covered. In fact, it’s eerily similar to how reports on Gaza are covered — by legitimizing a terror group and leaving out important context.
Some publications, like the unashamed UPI, chose to headline their Sunday article by describing Israel’s retaliatory strike on a Houthi military target in the city of Hodeidah (which is used to smuggle Iranian weapons) as an “attack.”
This wasn’t a random attack, obviously, but a response to terrorism directed at Israel.
The deliberate short-term memory of @upi ignores: the Houthis attacked Tel Aviv, killing an Israeli civilian & wounding several others. Israel’s response on a Yemeni port — where Houthis receive & store weapons from Iran — was exactly that, A RESPONSE. pic.twitter.com/sDBqgUsY7L
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 22, 2024
UPI reporter Adam Schrader’s article covers a plethora of Houthi responses and propaganda such as this:
Yemen’s official Ministry of Public Health and Population condemned Israeli aggression against Yemen that targeted civilian facilities in Hodeidah.
Why did he fail to include information on more than 220 missiles and drones that the Houthis have attempted to blast Israel’s way over the last nine months? Or what about the blocking and pirating of cargo ships in the peninsula? How about the UK and US strikes on the Houthis over the last several months?
Or what about the latest and most obvious piece of information to include: that the Houthis struck a civilian apartment building in central Tel Aviv, killed one person and injured 10 others? And that’s not to mention, giving context and clarity on Israel’s response, not random attack, on the Yemeni port infrastructure where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu revealed that Houthis receive and store weapons from Iran.
No. None of that. Just the stroking of Houthi and Hamas ego.
Others, like the Associated Press, did lazy man-on-the-street reporting in Sanaa, Yemen, by interviewing only one person about their reaction to Israel’s strike on the Houthi-controlled port target, and then claiming Sanaa residents as a whole denounce the strike on the rebel group, which has brought the entire country anguish for years:
Note to AP: If you want a headline about “Sanaa residents” denouncing Israel, you have to find more than just this one guy: https://t.co/GizyABg5up
— HonestReporting (@HonestReporting) July 22, 2024
There was also ABC News’ choice of wording on a live broadcast on Sunday, where the anchor referred to the location of the strike as the general Arabian Peninsula.
This is potentially inflammatory terminology — saying Israel “targeted several Houthi targets in the Arabian peninsula,” rather than specifying the strike was on the port of Yemen.
While Yemen’s port is off the peninsula, this is an extremely vague term that can be interpreted by viewers as Israel striking anywhere and indiscriminately.
As the media continue to cover this new development between Israel and the Houthis in Yemen, they should keep the facts intact and not twist the story into a biased — and unfortunately — familiar narrative that Israel is a wild aggressor.
The author is a contributor to HonestReporting, a Jerusalem-based media watchdog with a focus on antisemitism and anti-Israel bias — where a version of this article first appeared.
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Harvard University Grants Degrees to Pro-Hamas Protesters, Says Students ‘Restored to Good Standing’
Graduating students rise in support of 13 students not able to graduate because of their participation in anti-Israel protests during the 373rd Commencement Exercises at Harvard University, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, US, May 23, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Harvard University has awarded most of the degrees it withheld from pro-Hamas protesters as punishment for their participating in an unlawful demonstration at Harvard Yard, further feeding an impression that its tough talk about discipline and restoring order was contrived to temper negative publicity prompted by its alleged refusal to address antisemitism on the campus.
According to The Washington Free Beacon, which first reported the story, Harvard conferred degrees to 11 of the 13 protesters whose behavior during the final weeks of the semester prompted several warnings from the university.
Responding to the university’s amnestying him and other protesters, one graduate reviled Harvard on social media anyway, denouncing the institution as cynical and rapacious.
“What does it mean to be conferred a degree from a university that holds millions of investments in illegal occupation, bankrolls the annihilation of Palestinians, and mistreats its students for a political agenda,” Asmer Asrar Safi said in comments quoted by the Free Beacon. “While we know our fellow organizers … will continue to mobilize, please remember that every student, faculty, and staff member at the university has a responsibility to challenge the status quo.”
Harvard later said in statements to the Free Beacon and The Harvard Crimson, the school’s official campus newspaper, that nothing about its decision is amiss.
“Consistent with its May 22 statement, the Harvard Corporation has voted to confer degrees to 11 eligible candidates who have been restored to good standing following the completion of Faculty of Arts and Sciences processes,” a university spokesman said. “The university continues to work to strengthen and improve disciplinary processes, such as the recently announced procedures to enable the work of the University Committee on Rights and Responsibilities to enhance the consistency of investigation and factfinding [sic] processes in cases involving more than one school.”
This latest news follows earlier reporting that Harvard “downgraded” disciplinary sanctions it levied against several pro-Hamas demonstrators who participated in occupying Harvard Yard.
The shocking development likely erased the good will Harvard regained by appearing to embrace an approach to discipline that would deter future unruly behavior as well as the anti-Jewish and anti-Israel hate incidents the protesters perpetrated throughout the school year, which damaged the reputation of the institution and prompted a slew of lawsuits and federal investigations.
For a time the university was stern in discussing its intention to dismantle a “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” — a collection of tents in which demonstrators lived and from which they refused to leave unless Harvard agreed to boycott and divest from Israel — protesters had set up on campus, creating an impression that no one would go unpunished.
In a public statement, interim president Alan Garber denounced their actions for forcing the rescheduling of exams and disrupting the academics of students who continued doing their homework and studying for final exams, responsibilities the protesters seemingly abdicated during the demonstrations.
Harvard then began suspending the protesters following their rejection of a deal to leave the encampment, according to The Harvard Crimson. Before then, Garber vowed that any student who continued to occupy the section of campus would be placed on “involuntary leave,” a measure that would have effectively disenrolled the students from school and barred them from campus until a decision to allow them back was rendered.
However, Harvard, as well as the organization responsible for the encampment, Harvard out of Occupied Palestine (HOOP), always maintained that some protesters would be allowed to appeal their punishments, per an agreement — alluded to in its newest statement about the conferring of degrees that were withheld — the two parties reached, but it was not clear that the end result would amount to a victory for the protesters.
HOOP went on to celebrate the revocation of the suspensions on social media and, in addition to suggesting that its members will disrupt the campus again, described themselves as waging an “intifada,” an apparent reference to two prolonged periods of Palestinian terrorism during which hundreds of Israeli Jews were murdered.
“Harvard walks back on probations and reverses suspensions of pro-Palestine students after massive pressure,” the group said. “After sustained student and faculty organizing, Harvard has caved in, showing that the student intifada will always prevail … This reversal is a bare minimum. We call on our community to demand no less than Palestinian liberation from the river to the sea. Grounded in the rights of return and resistance. We will not rest until divestment from the Israeli regime is met.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Israeli Forces Retrieve Bodies of Five Hostages From Gaza, Military Says
Israelis and hostage families watch a screening of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he addresses Congress on a visit to the US, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, at the so-called “Hostages Square,” in Tel Aviv, Israel, July 24, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ricardo Moraes
Israeli forces recovered on Wednesday the bodies of five hostages killed in Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist attack on southern Israel and held in Gaza since then, the Israeli military said.
Maya Goren, a 56-year-old kindergarten teacher, was killed during the attack on her kibbutz, Nir Oz, according to Israeli Army Radio, one of the communities worst hit in the deadly attack in southern Israel that triggered the ongoing war in Hamas-ruled Gaza.
The other four hostages were two reserve soldiers and two conscript soldiers killed in combat during the Oct. 7 massacre, the military said. There names were Sergeant Kiril Brodski, 19; Staff Sergeant Tomer Ahimas, 20; Oren Goldin, 33; and Ravid Katz, 51.
“The rescue of the bodies of the late Maya, Kiril, Tomer, Oren, and Ravid is an important and decisive military move that allows their families an important closing of the circle, and eternal rest for the murdered,” the Hostages and Missing Family Forum said in a statement.
Their bodies were retrieved from the area of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, where Israeli forces launched new raids this week.
The five had been listed among 120 hostages still in Gaza, about a third of whom Israel has declared dead in absentia, based on forensic findings, intelligence, interrogations of captured militants, videos, and testimony of released hostages.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and the Shin Bet security agency said they would “continue to work for the return of the abductees and their return home.”
In a speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his government was actively engaged in intensive efforts to release the remaining hostages which he was confident would succeed.
An Israeli delegation would participate in talks to secure a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release — mediated by the United States, Egypt, and Qatar – next week, an Israeli official said on Wednesday.
Hamas wants a ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, but Netanyahu says the war cannot end before Hamas’ military and governing capabilities are dismantled.
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