A disturbing pattern of racially motivated assaults against Palestinian citizens within Israel is drawing intense scrutiny, as detailed by numerous victim accounts and official reports. The case of Mahmoud Agbaria, a Palestinian construction worker severely beaten in Tel Aviv by individuals claiming to be police officers, exemplifies this alarming trend. His father, Zidan Agbaria, recounted to Middle East Eye that the assailants attacked his son for speaking Arabic on his phone, continuing their assault until they believed him to be dead. Despite being hospitalized with severe injuries requiring multiple surgeries, Mahmoud’s attackers were subsequently released to house arrest by a Tel Aviv court, which cited the suspects’ claim of feeling ‘threatened’.
This incident is not isolated. Since late November, human rights organizations and media outlets have documented at least ten separate attacks on Palestinians by Israeli Jews across various cities, including Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Netanya. Victims have included bus drivers, sanitation workers, security guards, and even a heavily pregnant woman who was pepper-sprayed alongside her family. In a significant response, the Superbus drivers’ union announced a potential labor strike following 11 recorded attacks on its employees in November alone, many targeting Palestinian drivers.
Legal advocacy group Adalah, The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, asserts that state institutions are effectively enabling this violence through inaction and impunity. They point to a history of unprosecuted cases, including the killing of Mousa Hassouna in 2021 and an attack on Knesset member Ayman Odeh. Furthermore, allegations extend to police themselves, with security guard Qais Haddad testifying to a brutal beating by 13 officers at a Jerusalem football match, during which they hurled racial slurs.
Analysts and politicians, such as Knesset member Ahmad Tibi, link this internal violence to the ideology and actions of far-right settler movements, arguing it represents a ‘widespread and systematic phenomenon’ fueled by incitement from certain politicians and media outlets. The collective testimony paints a picture of a deteriorating social fabric where Palestinian citizens increasingly fear for their safety in their own country.