Jerusalem, 4 June, 2025 (TPS-IL) — President of Israel Isaac Herzog spoke out on the ongoing crisis of violent crime in Israel’s Arab communities saying, “It is impossible not to be truly shocked, to the depths of my soul, by what has been happening recently in Arab society.”
His comments came at the Yitzhak Navon (5th President of Israel) Minister of Culture Awards ceremony for the Preservation and Cultivation of Israeli Cultures.
“We are in the midst of an epidemic of violence and crime in Arab society; an epidemic of brutal and cruel murders, which every civilized society must be shocked by,” he stated. “More than 100 citizens of Arab society were murdered in 2025 alone. This is an unimaginable number, we are only halfway through the year.”
Herzog called on the government and its leader, and all elected officials and public servants in all ministries and all relevant authorities – at the national, local and community levels – to “urgently prioritize this existential issue. This is about human lives, about real lives, about the blood of hundreds of thousands of Israeli men and women!”