SAKHNIN, January 23, 2025 (WAFA) – Palestinian citizens of Israel on Friday held a massive demonstration in Sakhnin, east of Akka, in protest of endemic violence and crime, accusing Israeli police of complicity and failure to protect their communities.
The demonstration came after the municipality, the popular committee and the general committee of parents called for an open-ended strike against rising gun violence and Israeli complicity in organised crime.
Participants waved black flags and chanted slogans directed at Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, accusing him of neglecting the bloodshed and treating Palestinian lives as expendable.
Several other Palestinian-majority towns followed suit, including Tamra, Kabul, and I'billin, both located near Shefa-Amr city, making it among the largest demonstrations in years.
Similar to Thursday’s protest in Sakhnin, in which approximately 50,000 people took part, including doctors, lawyers, pharmacists, and engineers who walked off the job to attend, Friday’s demonstration also involved children, who criticized Israeli police’s inaction to stop the bloodshed.
Sakhnin municipality and the general committee of parents announced extending the open-ended strike until Saturday.
Over 100,000 people took to the streets on Thursday in Sakhnin and other Palestinian-majority towns.
The strike comes amid a spike in crime in Palestinian communities in Israel, with 2025 described as the "deadliest year ever" by the NGO Abraham Initiatives.
In 2025, 252 Palestinians were recorded killed in criminal incidents, an increase on the 230 cases recorded in 2024.
For decades, Palestinian citizens of Israel have suffered from discriminatory laws and practices imposed by the Israeli state, despite possessing citizenship – including living under military rule between 1948 and 1966.
They are the descendants of the native residents of Palestine who were not expelled during the 1948 Nakba, when Zionist gangs forced 750,000 Palestinians from their homeland to create the state of Israel.
Although formally citizens of Israel, making up around 20 percent of the country's 10 million population, they continue to face inequality, discrimination and repression.
K.F.
