Ayman Odeh Vows Nationwide Disruptions Over Arab Sector Crime Surge

Hadash-Ta’al chairman Ayman Odeh announced plans to intensify nationwide disruptions in response to soaring crime rates in Arab Israeli communities, warning that roadblocks, protests, and economic boycotts will continue until the government acts decisively against organized crime.

Speaking in an interview Sunday, Odeh defended the growing protest movement, which recently brought central highways to a halt and culminated in a mass demonstration outside the Knesset and Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem.

“We are disrupting things because we want them to listen to us,” Odeh said. The protests, he emphasized, aim to save lives and pressure the state to confront the criminal elements devastating Arab society.

Next steps include a planned boycott of malls, banks, and economic institutions. Odeh argued that such disruptions serve the broader public interest. “The biggest harm to the economy is crime itself,” he noted. “Our goal is, first, to save human lives, which is the highest value in Judaism, and second, for the economy to be healthy.”

According to Odeh, the violence has destroyed families and communities, orphaned children, and harmed the country’s tourism sector. “Even if what we’re doing is economic disruption, the goal is good for everyone.”

The Hadash-Ta’al leader stressed that 99% of Arab citizens are law-abiding and that the government’s focus should be squarely on dismantling the criminal organizations entrenched in the remaining 1%.

Last year was the deadliest on record for the Arab sector, with over 250 murders surpassing annual Arab death tolls even in war-torn nations, Odeh said. He placed blame squarely on National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has overseen the police since 2022.

Ben-Gvir defended law enforcement efforts in a recent interview, claiming the police are working hard to reduce crime. Odeh rejected the claim outright: “That’s not true,” he said, citing the rise in femicide and overall lack of police presence in Arab towns. “There is a state for Jews, and we [the Arab sector] live without police, without a state.”

Odeh added that he has had no communication with Ben-Gvir and dismissed the minister’s blaming of Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara for his own failures as “not serious.”

In a call for unity, Odeh urged both Arab and Jewish citizens to join the protest movement. “There is no half-society,” he said. “We live in one place, in one society, and we must struggle together for a healthy society, without weapons, without criminal organizations.”

Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel criticized Odeh’s stance, saying, “You cannot cry about a lack of governance in the morning and sabotage police work in the evening.” She accused figures like Odeh of fostering hostility toward police and undermining efforts to restore order.

As protests grow and anger deepens, the issue has become a national crisis. Arab communities are demanding safety, justice, and equal enforcement of the law and they’re no longer willing to wait in silence.

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