The homicide rate in the Arab community in Israel has increased by 60% from 2016 to 2019, and in 2018, the murder rate among Arabs in Israel was more than eight times the rate among Jewish Israelis, a new study published by the Baladna Association for Arab Youth shows.
The report, published on Wednesday by the Haifa-based institute, found that people under the age of 30 constituted 51% of murder victims in the Arab Israeli community between 2011 and 2019
In recent years, the Arab society in Israel has “experienced a significant rise in violence occurring within the community, resulting in the deaths of hundreds and causing injury to thousands,” the report said.
The report, titled “Nine Years of Bloodshed,” examines homicide cases within the community between 2011 and 2019. In total, 575 homicides were reported over the course of the nine years.
Following a decrease in the number of murders in 2016, the rate has increased considerably in recent years. In 2019, 85 murder cases were reported, marking a 60% increase from 2016 and the most homicide deaths in the community in some seven decades.
The number of homicides in Arab society are particularly high when compared with other population groups. In 2018, for example, the murder rate was more than five times the rate in the Palestinian Authority and eight times the rate among Jewish Israelis.
The youth homicide rate was notably higher among women and girls, 53% of whom were below the age of 34, compared to 47% among men.
In general, males were more likely to be killed and comprised 83.7% of all murder victims, with females constituting the remaining 16.3%.
In addition to data on gender and age, the report compared rates on different geographic regions and cities over time. The Center and the Southern Triangle, around Kfar Qasim, had the highest rates. The North, around Umm al-Fahm, showed cause for concern, as well, with a 243% increase in homicides between 2018 and 2019.
The report also shows that 74% of murder deaths were the result of firearms.
Over the course of the rest of 2020, Baladna, which wrote the report together with the UK’s Coventry University, will use this report as a starting point for research aimed at understanding the social, political, and economic factors underlying this violent reality.
After completing case studies in five localities and compiling and disseminating the findings, Baladna will launch a series of strategy sessions in 2021 to devise evidence-based solutions to the problem and its impact on Arab youth.
This report did not provide any such explanations.
The Israeli police in 2019 launched an operation to curb criminal activity and violence within the Arab sector.
Since the beginning of the targeted operation, the police have arrested more than 3,600 suspects for shootings, gun trafficking and the illegal use of weapons, more than 90% of them from Arab society.
The police also located and seized more than 4,700 illegal weapons, including more than 1,300 rifles and weapons of various kinds, 275 grenades of various types, ammunition and explosive charges, most of them seized in Arab communities.
Data shows that Arabs in Israelis are involved in 57% of all murder cases, 55% of the attempted murder cases, 59%of the arson incidents, 45% of the robberies, and 26% of drug cases.
Israeli Arabs represent about 20% of the general population.