Israel’s murder problem

A wave of violence is convulsing Israeli society. It’s not caused by Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi, or Iranian attacks. Instead, it’s the daily violence meted out, not by terrorists or enemy governments, but by citizen against fellow citizen. Amidst the chaos of war, Israel is suffering a crime wave.

Murder is a crime that happens in every society, but there are alarming trends emerging in Israel. A recent study by the Taub Centre for Social Policy Studies in Israel found that the murder rate amongst Arab-Israelis, who comprise around a fifth of the state’s population, is one of the largest in high-income countries, behind only Mexico and Columbia in the OECD. 

The gap between the murder rate in the Arab-Israeli community versus the Jewish community is vast. It has already reached 14:1 this year. In one single day in August this year alone, there were four separate incidents that left one dead, and eight injured; in September, a car exploded, killing four people, including three children.