Why Palestinians in Israel believe crime is a ‘strategic project of the state’
Israeli security forces at the scene of an explosion in Ramle 12 September 2024
Baker Zoubi writes in +972 on 27 May 2025:
On April 29, Susan Abdelqader was gunned down in her car near her home in Tira — the fifth Palestinian citizen of Israel killed in five days, and the 83rd this year. A well-known community activist, Abdelqader had helped lead Tel Aviv’s “March of the Dead” in 2023, where thousands of Palestinian and Jewish protesters carried symbolic coffins to decry the escalating murders in Israel’s Arab community. Just two years later, the 40-year-old mother of three became part of the very death toll she had protested. In the month since her murder, seven more Palestinian citizens have been killed.
The killer, who remains at large, wasn’t trying to intimidate or threaten Abdelqader. Every bullet was aimed at the upper half of her body — he clearly intended to kill. “The gunman ambushed her, approached her car, and fired as she came home,” her husband, Ziad Bishara, told +972.
Abdelqader’s murder comes as organized criminal violence in Palestinian communities inside of Israel has reached unprecedented levels in recent years. According to the Abraham Initiatives, 230 Palestinian citizens were victims of homicide in 2024, up from 116 in 2022, and just below the 2023 peak of 244.
“We have an operation of well-armed criminal organizations that resemble small armies,” Political activist Ameer Makhoul told +972. “We’re talking about hundreds, even thousands of young people, either from inside the Green Line or from the West Bank, acting in a highly organized fashion.”
Gangs have benefited from the proliferation of weapons inside Israel since the October 7 attacks — smuggling military explosives to carry out car bombings in Arab towns, and taking advantage of the government’s expansion of gun ownership — all while the Israel police turn a blind eye to their activity.
“No Palestinian community in Israel remains untouched by this violence,” Makhoul explained. “Crime has reached every corner of society. It is an entire economic system generating billions through extortion rackets, municipal contract takeovers, business seizures, and more. This is a whole mechanism, not just isolated incidents.”
According to Makhoul, the problem has led to a notable rise in recent years in the number of Palestinian citizens seeking to emigrate from Israel. A quick scroll through Facebook groups about relocation reveals hundreds of inquiries from Palestinian citizens exploring immigration options. This, he emphasized, is no accident.