Israel is blamed for Arabs killing Arabs in latest Palestinian Authority TV libel
The crime wave in Israeli Arab society has reached devastating proportions. In the past month alone, 19 Israeli Arabs were murdered. One of those murders was reportedly the 35th killing in a years-long feud between two families, and it also marked the 100th murder in Israeli Arab society since the beginning of 2026. In 2025, there were 252 Arab-on-Arab murders—a crisis rooted in internal violence, criminal networks, illegal weapons, and long-running feuds.
Yet instead of confronting this reality, an Israeli Arab journalist used official Palestinian Authority TV to libel Israel, portraying the deadly crime wave in Israeli Arab society as part of a politically directed Israeli plot.
Appearing on PA TV, journalist Suheil Diab claimed that crime in Arab society "within the Green Line" is "politically directed," with "political support" for "the unlimited distribution of weapons" and for the desire to "dismantle the Arab public from within."
Text on screen: "Increase in crime in Arab society within the Green Line (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel)... 100 murdered since the start of the year [2026]."
Israeli Arab journalist Suheil Diab: "This crime [in Israeli Arab society] is not only organized but also politically directed, meaning there are political circles interested in this crime... The issue is not related to social development or internal social and cultural reasons. The main reason is the political support for spreading crime, for the unlimited distribution of weapons. The [Israeli] goal is to dismantle the Arab public from within, so that it won't take an interest in the big issues, its people's issues, national issues, daily issues, equality issues, and also so that this society won't take part in the major changes in Israeli society."
[Official PA TV, May 3, 2026]
By painting Arab-sector crime as an Israeli conspiracy, Diab shifts responsibility away from the murderers, the criminal gangs, the illegal weapons networks, and the social and political leadership that must confront them. In doing so, he turns a painful domestic crisis into anti-Israel propaganda for a Palestinian Authority audience.
The crime crisis in Israeli Arab society is real and severe. Arab-sector crime requires law enforcement, community cooperation, local leadership, rejection of illegal weapons, and a clear moral demand that murder, intimidation, and organized crime be rooted out. It will not be solved by going on PA TV and claiming that Israel is secretly orchestrating the bloodshed.
For the PA though, Diab's libel fits perfectly into its regular messaging: Israel is to blame for every Palestinian or Arab problem, while internal failures, corruption, incitement, lawlessness, and criminal responsibility are ignored.
Text on screen: "Demonstrations in Jerusalem protesting the spread of crime within the Green Line (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel) and condemning the Israeli government's racist policy."
Official PA TV reporter: "Following the unprecedented spread of organized crime,... the demonstrators placed the responsibility on... the [Israeli] police, which gives a green light to crime... as part of a systematic plan aimed at eliminating our people within the territories of the Interior (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel)."
[Official PA TV News, Jan. 11, 2026]
The murder of Israeli Arabs by criminals in their own communities is a tragedy. Using official PA TV to turn that tragedy into a libel against Israel is propaganda. Diab took Arab-sector bloodshed and repackaged it for the PA's anti-Israel narrative, portraying criminal violence as an Israeli plot. That is the function of the libel: to blame Israel, absolve Arab criminals, and feed the PA audience another false charge against the Jewish state.