Damned if Israel does, damned if it doesn't: Palestinian Authority libels Israel for Arab crime and for fighting it
Damned if Israel does, damned if Israel doesn't: The Palestinian Authority libels Israel of deliberately allowing violent crime to ravage its Arab community and then portrays Israeli efforts to combat that crime as yet another sinister plot against Arab society.
Particularly striking is that the reporter promoting this libel, Salam Mashraqi, is herself an Israeli Arab who was trained by Israel's own public broadcasting network and now works for official PA TV.
Mashraqi claimed that Israel had hidden "goals" of "exploiting the tragedies of Arab society" when it decided to expand the role of the Israeli Security Agency through an allocation of approximately 1 billion shekels to integrate the organization into crime-prevention efforts. In other words, even a major Israeli investment aimed at curbing the bloodshed is presented as evidence of an anti-Arab conspiracy.
The program then featured "expert" on Israeli affairs Suheil Diab, who claimed that violent crime in Israel's Arab community is not merely a criminal or social phenomenon but is being politically fueled from within the Israeli government. Diab further accused Israel of intentionally leaving illegal weapons in the hands of Arab crime gangs and portrayed the high murder rate as proof of a deliberate discriminatory policy.
Official PA TV reporter, Israeli citizen, Salam Mashraqi: "The Israeli police exploit the tragedies of Arab society to involve the Shin Bet (i.e., Israeli Security Agency)… The Israeli government… announced the allocation of a budget estimated at one billion shekels for the integration [of the Israeli Security Agency in crime prevention] within Arab society, indicating the goals of the Israeli government, which adopts a planned and premeditated policy against Arab society within the interior territories (i.e., Palestinian term for Israel)."
"Expert" on Israeli affairs SuheilDiab: "There are those acting from within the [Israeli] government to fuel such crime for political reasons, aiming to undermine the role of the Arab public in Israel to distance it from expressing general support for its Palestinian people… This means that the governing institution does nothing to remove these weapons from the [Arab] public."
[Official PA TV, July 6, 2026]
Thus, according to the PA, when Israel fails to stop Arab organized crime, it is deliberately fostering the violence, but when it allocates extensive resources and deploys the Israeli Security Agency to fight it, that too is supposedly part of the plot.
The PA promotes the same libel regarding drug abuse. Qalqilya District Governor Hussam Abu Hamda claimed on official PA TV that Israel deliberately uses narcotics to destroy Palestinian society:
Qalqilya District Governor Hussam Abu Hamda: "Drugs are currently being used as a weapon of the occupation (i.e., Israel) against us to tear apart the social fabric from within and thus kill the Palestinian person."
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, June 24, 2026]
Diab's accusation echoed an earlier claim broadcast by official PA TV. High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel Secretary Mansour Dahamsheh similarly alleged that the violence is the product of "a deliberate supreme policy by the Israeli government," whose "main goal" is to spread "crime, violence, and despair in Arab society."
High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel Secretary Mansour Dahamsheh: "I am directly pointing an accusatory finger at the [Israeli] right-wing government led by [Prime Minister] Netanyahu and [Minister of National Security] Ben Gvir. They're partners in crime and violence because they allow the [Israeli] Arab society to bear arms. There is no deterrence to a murderer committing his next crime. All this is included under a deliberate supreme policy by the Israeli government, the main goal of which is the spread of crime, violence, and despair in Arab society… and lack of security and protection in our society… There is a deliberate policy by the [Israeli] deep state."
[Official PA TV, June 23, 2026]
These latest libels continue the pattern recently exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, such as when WAFA, the official PA news agency, omitted key context when reporting the police shooting of an armed Arab man in Lod and echoed the broader PA narrative that crime within Israel's Arab community is politically directed by Israel.
Rather than confronting organized crime, illegal weapons, drug trafficking, and internal social failures, the PA routinely shifts responsibility onto Israel. The fact that this newest accusation was delivered by an Israeli Arab journalist trained by Israel's own public broadcaster only underscores the absurdity: Israel provided her with professional opportunities, yet she now uses PA TV to portray Israeli efforts to protect Arab citizens as proof of a conspiracy against them.