All articles tagged with #arab communities
Arab and Muslim communities in swing states are threatening not to vote for Joe Biden in the 2024 presidential election due to his support of Israel's Gaza war, with Palestinian-American Rep. Rashida Tlaib leading the condemnations.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has announced that his ministry will resume funding for Arab communities after facing backlash for suspending the funds, claiming they were contributing to crime. Smotrich had previously accused the previous cabinet of using the budget funds as a political pay-off that could end up in the hands of criminals and terrorists. Arab councils held a strike in protest, and community leaders accused Smotrich of racism. However, Smotrich now states that an oversight mechanism has been established to ensure the funds are not misused by criminal organizations. Arab citizens in Israel, who make up about a fifth of the population, have been experiencing disproportionately high levels of crime, with 157 murders reported since January.
Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Tel Aviv and across Israel for the 34th consecutive week to demonstrate against the government's plans to overhaul the judicial system. The protests have expanded to include grievances such as discrimination against women, religious party influence, and the government's response to surging violent crime in Arab communities. The demonstrations also criticized the appointment of National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has been accused of hating Arabs, to protect Arab children. Opposition leader Yair Lapid called Ben Gvir a "despicable racist and a complete failure." The protests come after recent incidents of violence, including the killing of a municipal director and a quadruple homicide.
Five men were killed in a criminal shooting in a suburb of the northern Israeli city of Nazareth. The incident is one of the deadliest crime-related shootings in Israel's recent history. Deadly incidents of criminal violence, particularly gun violence, in Arab communities across Israel are well above the national average. The incident comes just hours after a separate shooting in another Nazareth suburb that critically injured a 3-year-old girl and a 30-year-old man. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to stop the chain of murders.