Father’s anger exposes divide in Israeli society

“I am very angry,” says Casim Abu Al -Hajjah, 67.

On Saturday, four members of his family were killed when an Iranian missile hit their house in northern Israel, and the concrete building collapsed over them.

Witnesses say that books, clothes, children’s play and body parts were detonated on the road.

The entire street fell in the dark when the missile was hit. Rescuers managed to locate their bodies by following blood paths.

The four victims, such as Casem Manar Khatib, 45 years old, and a grandson, Shada, 20 years old, 13 years old, and their aunt, Manal Khatib, 41.

They managed to reach my safe room, reinforced at the house they shared – but the ballistic missile that hit him directly.

They lived in a pass, which is the majority of the Arab town in northern Israel.

Minutes after their death, a video appeared online. The Iranian missiles wandering in the sky showed. While descending on an exercise, a sound can be heard, in the Hebrew language: “On the village, on the village.”

“Your village may burn,” then says a group of others, sings, dick and applause.

“They sang what happened to my family,” says Kassem, quietly, surrounded by their relatives in the protest.

The video – which shows the Israelis who sing a joint chant to combat the Arabian Jews – was widely condemned in Israel, where President Isaac Herzog described it as “horrific, exciting to participate.”

But there are more reasons that make Kasem and the broader society in angry dates than what happened.

Here – as with many Arab majority societies in Israel – there are no general bombs for their 38,000 residents.

For comparison, the Jewish Jewish city of Carmel, of 55,000 people, includes 126 general shelters.

The residents of Tamr have long raised the stimulant to contrast. It is located in northern Israel, about 10 km (6 miles) east of Haifa and 25 km (16 miles) south of the border with Lebanon. The city was vulnerable to the missiles launched by the Lebanese -backed Lebanese Hezbollah group. In October 2024, a missile fired the group seriously.

Throughout Israel, about a quarter of the population cannot reach a suitable shelter. But in non -Jewish local authorities, the number is almost half, according to a 2018 report issued by the state observer in Israel, the latest available data.

“For many decades, the Arab local authorities have received the state’s lowest funding in various fields, including the preparation of emergency,” says Lital Biller of the Israel Democracy Institute, a research tank.

“When the shelters are present,” they are few, are poorly maintained, and are often suitable for long stays, “she says.

BBC is close to the Israeli Ministry of Defense to comment.

Israeli Arabs – many of whom are preferred to call Palestinian citizens in Israel – are five population of the country. Under the law, they have equal rights with Jewish citizens, but they routinely complain of discrimination in the state and treat as second -class citizens.

After the Gulf War in the period 1990-1991, when the Iraqi missiles struck Tel Aviv and Haifa, the Israeli government imposed that all new residential buildings should contain a safe and mammad safe room, as it is known.

Activists say that Arab societies often face strict restrictions on planning, which leads to construction of unorganized building and homes.

Local authorities say about 40 % of Tamra homes have their own safe room, leaving the majority of the population forced to run to neighbors’ homes to participate. In many cases, due to the short warning period, this is not possible.

“The gaps are enormous,” says Ilan Amit of the empowerment, equality and cooperation center, which works to build shelters in Arab societies. “I live in Jerusalem. Every building has a shelter for bombs. Every neighborhood has a public bomb shelter.”

While Dark falls into Tamra, the population phones lightly light with a screaming alert: “You must stay near a protected area.”

Soon the sirens, and the population – are fresh from the shock of the strike on Saturday – panic. Mothers gather their children and run people on the street screaming. Many families in the safe room for one house. Some crying, some smile, others nervously. One man closes his eyes and prays. The mutation after the mutation hears the general expenses.

The issue of shelter is more clear in the Israeli Arab Bedouins – which many live in villages in the Nijif Desert that have not been recognized by the Israeli government, so shelters have not been built for them.

She was the only victim of April 2024 escalation in hostilities between Israel and Iran, a young girl from one society, who was seriously injured and spent a year in the hospital after shrapnel from an Iranian missile that hit her head.

A lack of shelters is also a prevailing issue in some poor Jewish societies in Israel in areas such as South of Tel Aviv.

A new survey conducted by the Hebrew University found that 82.7 % of the Jewish Israelis support the attack on Iran – but 67.9 % of Arab Israelis oppose this. Moreover, 69.2 % of Arab Israelis reported feelings of fear of strikes – with 25.1 % expression of despair.

“The Arab community feels negligent and left behind,” Amit says. “There are huge gaps in education and employment. There are huge gaps in shelters, in the presence of shelters.”

“In the days that have passed since it happened, you can feel angry,” says Adele Khatib, a municipal official from Tamra.

“We don’t get the basic needs,” says Khatib. “Most Arab societies have no societal centers or buildings for culture and activities.”

According to official Israeli statistics, in 2023, 42.4 % of the Arab population lived below the poverty line – more than twice the percentage of the general population in Israel.

There have been attempts in recent years to close these gaps. In 2021, the former Israeli government brought a five -year development plan to the Arab community.

“We were in the middle of a big leap in social economic development, and narrowing gaps in teaching, higher education and employment,” says Amit.

But the current right -wing coalition of Israel, which is the most intense in its history, slowly reduced funding for this plan – re -directing money elsewhere.

Some of these discounts came at a time when the government amended budgets for the ongoing war in Gaza, which began in response to the border attack led by Hamas on Israel on October 7, 2023, where about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others took hostage.

“This government was simply putting, as you know, in the wheels of this five plan, and do not allow the implementation of large parts of it,” Amit added.

He says: “Over the past year and a half, the Arab community has found itself between a rock and a difficult place, meaning that on the one hand, they suffer from the policies of the current government, and on the other hand, they see their brothers and sisters in Gaza and in the West Bank suffering because of the war.”

“Everyone is angry and sad.” Says Mohamed Othman, 16, one of the neighbors.

He talks about Shada, 20 years old, says: “She studied her entire life. She wanted to be the best. Her father is a lawyer, and she wanted to be the same. All of these dreams, just disappeared.

“It was the best picture of a happy family … when I imagine them, I imagine that the parts I saw.”

In the preventive stand in front of the funeral, dozens of members of society meet, and they revive each other with shaking hands, sharing coffee and tea, and mourning quietly.

Casem says: “Bombs do not choose between Arabs or Jews,” says Casim. “We must end this war. We must end it now.”

Tom Bennett photos