Here’s why Israel is allowing record murder rates in its Palestinian towns

Israel is tolerating violence against its Palestinian citizens to push them out, while weaponising anti-Semitism to pull Jews in.

Neve Gordon is Professor of International Law at Queen Mary University of London.

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While the international media has rightly focused on the genocide and enormous displacement in Gaza alongside the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem, the 300 murders inside Israel in 2025, 252 of whom were Palestinian victims, garnered little to no media coverage outside Israel. Yet last year marked the deadliest year on record for murders among Palestinian citizens of Israel, who make up 21 percent of Israel’s population but sustain 80 percent of the murders. That is one murder every 36 hours.