Israel's Reform Movement and Crime in the Arab Sector

On January 8 this year, the Israel Religious Action Center - IRAC posted a "Public Statement".

It addressed, on behalf of the Israel Movement for Reform and Progressive Judaism and the Council of Reform Rabbis in Israel, the issue of murders in Israeli society. While claiming that the "number of murders in Israeli society has reached unimaginable proportions', even they could not escape the reality that "the overwhelming majority of the victims are Palestinian citizens of Israel" yet added, "the harm is to Israeli society as a whole."

The statement reads - and I quote in full:

After more than 250 people were murdered in 2025, 11 people were murdered in the first week of 2026 alone. This violence is not an inevitable fate, but rather the result of neglect, selective enforcement, and a governance vacuum into which criminal organizations have entered. The police are not adequately addressing this horrific phenomenon, creating a reality that would be unthinkable in Jewish localities. Israel's rate of solved murder cases in Arab society stands at only 15%, compared with 65% in Jewish society. The message conveyed is that the lives of Arab citizens are worth less than the lives of Jews. This is a message that must not be accepted in a Jewish and democratic state.

This shocking reality cannot be accepted. Jewish tradition sanctifies the life of every human being, expressed in the teaching: “Beloved is humanity, for it was created in the image [of God].” It teaches us that “whoever destroys a single life is considered as though they destroyed an entire world, and whoever preserves a single life is considered as though they preserved an entire world” (Sanhedrin 4:5). It also teaches us that it is our duty to be responsible for the lives of every person, and when we fail to do so, we transgress the commandment, “You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor” (Leviticus 19:16).

Maimonides writes on this matter: “Anyone who is able to save and does not save transgresses ‘You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor.’ Likewise, one who sees their fellow drowning in the sea, or bandits coming upon them, or a wild animal attacking them, and is able to save them personally, or to hire others to save them, and does not do so… and all similar cases—one who does these things transgresses ‘You shall not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor’” (Maimonides, Mishneh Torah, Laws of Murder and the Preservation of Life 1:20).

From the ritual of the heifer whose neck is broken (‘Egla Arufa’), we learn of the obligation of leadership to take responsibility for the blood of the murdered, as well as the duty to protest. As the sages taught: “Anyone who could have protested against the members of their household and did not do so is held accountable for the members of their household; against the people of their city and did not do so is held accountable for the people of their city; against the whole world and did not do so is held accountable for the whole world” (Shabbat 54b).

The government, and the Ministry of National Security in particular, are obligated to protect all citizens of the state, without distinction of religion, nationality, or race. Indeed, this is a complex issue, but if there is will and commitment to the safety of Palestinian citizens of the state, it can be solved. The proof is the dramatic decline in the number of murders during the tenure of the previous government, which placed the issue at the top of its priorities and formulated a multi-year national emergency plan called “Safe Path.”

We call on the Government of Israel to place the fight against crime in Arab society at the top of its priorities, to allocate sufficient resources to address it, and to immediately formulate an effective plan to deal with the phenomenon, in dialogue with the leadership of the Arab public in Israel.

My comments:

1. To adopt the terminology of "Palestinian citizens" is purely fanciful political "correctness" with no legal legitimization. Moreover, it has nothing to do with the issue they are addressing except to blur the matter as if they are not Israelis.

2. No responsibility or agency is awarded to the "Arab society" mentioned. Not to the immams. Not to the Armayors of Arab localities. Not to educators. Not to politicians. It's all the fault of the Jews.

3. No criticism of Israel's Attorney-Gneral and others who have stymmied attempts of the government to treat the issue through the GSS with authorized intelligence-gathering usually applied to terrorists.

In short, a politicall diatribe.

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