Smotrich says not Israel’s fault Palestinians ‘murder one another’

Bezalel Smotrich, Israel’s finance minister, said that it was not the government's fault that Palestinians “murder one another”, sparking uproar during a parliamentary discussion on Tuesday.

Several Palestinian lawmakers in Israel’s parliament, including Iman Khatib-Yassin, said during a debate that Smotrich’s proposed 1.5 percent property tax on vacant land would harm Palestinians who own property but cannot afford to develop it. 

They also accused the government of failing to take responsibility for rising violence in Palestinian communities. 

Smotrich responded by asking if the government was “to blame for the fact that you murder one another” - a remark which was met by responses of “disgusting” and “racist”. 

“Educate your public to stop murdering,” the finance minister said. “Let’s start with you condemning terror and condemning violence. Define Hamas as a terror organisation.”

In recent weeks, there have been frequent demonstrations over near-daily homicides in predominantly Palestinian towns and villages across Israel. 

Protests began in Sakhnin and Tamra last month, before spreading further afield. 

It culminated in Tel Aviv last week, where nearly 100,000 gathered in one of the largest mobilisations by Palestinian citizens of Israel in years, calling for action against violence and organised crime. 

Israel accused of failing to curb violence

According to the Abraham Initiatives, a non-governmental organisation that monitors violence in Palestinian communities, 51 Palestinian citizens have been killed in Israel so far this year. 

The surge follows a record year in 2025, when 252 people were killed in 218 separate incidents. 

The number of deaths has increased roughly fourfold over the past decade.

Palestinians have accused the government of failing to address the crisis, and in some cases, of enabling conditions that allow violence to escalate. 

In 2023, former police commissioner Kobi Shabtai was heavily criticised after he was recorded suggesting there was little that could be done to curb crime in Palestinian communities because it was “in their nature” to murder. 

Last year, 308 homicides were recorded across Israel, of which 249 involved Palestinian victims, according to a tally by Haaretz - a ratio of roughly five to one Palestinian to Jewish victims. 

Palestinian citizens of Israel rally against state inaction as crime surges

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“This deliberate negligence is a policy aimed at internally dismantling the community and forcing it to prioritise the basic demand of safety,” Ahmed Khalifa, lawyer and human rights advocate, told Middle East Eye last week. 

“The state defines where gangs operate and allows them space to flourish within Palestinian areas.”

Dr Walid Haddad, a criminologist and university lecturer, said there were about 50 victims of homicides within the Palestinian community of Israel in 2016. The number rose above 100 in 2020 and exceeded 200 by 2023.

“Israel has not treated the rise of crime as a strategic threat to the state, and therefore no governmental plan has been proposed,” Haddad told MEE. 

“The responsibility lies with the institution itself. In every country where organised crime spreads, it is ultimately the state’s responsibility.”

Palestinian citizens of Israel are descendants of Arab residents of historic Palestine who remained in their homeland after the 1948 Nakba, during which Zionist gangs expelled around 750,000 Palestinians before the creation of the state of Israel.

Today, the community numbers about two million people, accounting for roughly 20 percent of Israel’s population of nearly 10 million.

Despite holding Israeli citizenship, they have faced discriminatory laws and practices for decades, including a period of military rule from 1948 to 1966.