PALESTINIAN-MAJORITY AREAS IN ISRAEL — Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir announced a national police operation to address a surge in youth violence in Palestinian-majority areas of Israel. "This will be a total war," Ben-Gvir said, pledging an aggressive law enforcement response.

"We will restore security to the streets and calm to parents. Anyone who harms Israeli civilians will face the strong hand of the Israel Police and pay a heavy price," Ben-Gvir said. The announcement followed the killing last week of Yemanu Binyamin Zalka, a 21-year-old former Israeli soldier.

Almost 100 people have died in the ongoing wave of violence in Israeli towns and villages populated by Palestinians. The murder rate in Israel's Palestinian communities rose from 4.9 per 100,000 in 2020 to 11 per 100,000, a rate on par with that in Sudan and Iraq, while the rate in Israel's Jewish society stood at approximately 0.6 per 100,000. According to Israel's finance ministry, youth violence costs the country up to $6.7bn a year.

Palestinian citizens of Israel make up around 21 percent of the country's population. There are about 10 police stations in Palestinian-majority areas. In December, the government approved a $68.5m cut to an economic development program for Palestinian communities in Israel to fund more policing. The most recent official data, based on 2024 figures, shows that 37.6 percent of Palestinian households in Israel live below the poverty line.

Allegations of two-tier policing have dogged Israel's police for decades. Lawmaker Aida Touma-Suleiman rejected the framing of the new operation. "They really don't mind that Palestinians are killing each other, as they've been left to do for years," Touma-Suleiman said. "It would never occur to the police that they should provide a service to Arab neighbourhoods." She added: "It's about enforcement. It's hostile."

Local criminal networks in Palestinian towns and villages in Israel have grown in scale and influence, forming mafia-style organizations in some cases. Daniel Bar-Tal, a professor of social-political psychology at Tel Aviv University, said: "There is a wide network of criminal gangs who exert control across Arab neighbourhoods." He also said: "In part, the government just likes it. They get to say, 'Look, this is Arab culture, this is Arab society. This is what they do.' They also rely on the collaboration of the gangs to gather information on what's going on in these communities." Bar-Tal added: "And lastly, it is because the police force is controlled by Ben-Gvir, a racist who actively enjoys dehumanising Arab society."

Ben-Gvir has rejected accusations of racism and said he is only against those who harm Jews. Israel's High Court ordered Ben-Gvir and Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara to reach an accommodation after Baharav-Miara called for his ousting over attempts to make political interventions in police work. The Netanyahu administration has been in power since the end of 2022.