Father’s anger reveals the gap in Israeli society

“I’m very angry,” said Kasem Abu al-Hija, 67.

Four of his family members were killed and collapsed concrete buildings on Saturday when Iranian missiles hit a house in Northern Israel.

Witnesses said books, clothes, children’s toys and body parts were blown into the road.

When the missile hit, the whole street fell into darkness. Rescuers managed to find their bodies by following the bloodstains.

Four victims were appointed as daughter of Kasem, 45, Manar Khatib, his two granddaughters, Shada, 20, and Hala, 13, and their aunt, Manal Khatib, 41.

They managed to bring it to two reinforced safety rooms in the house they shared – but the ballistic missile hit it directly.

They live in Tamra, a small Arab-majority town in northern Israel.

A few minutes after his death, a video appeared online. It shows the Iranian missile streak above the sky. When they descend to Tamra, the sound in Hebrew can be heard: “In the village, in the village.”

A group of people said, “May your village burn.”

Kasm whispered: “They sang about what happened to my family.”

The video shows Israel singing common anti-Arab hymns in Israel – often widely condemned in Israel, which President Isaac Herzog calls “shocking and shameful.”

But there are more reasons why Kasmu and Tamra’s wider community is angry about what’s going on.

Here – so are many Arab majority communities in Israel – 38,000 residents do not have public bomb shelter.

For comparison, the nearby Jewish minority town has a population of 55,000 and has 126 public shelters.

Tamra residents have long been increasing alarms on the gap. Located in northern Israel, about 10 kilometers (6 miles) east of Haifa City and 25 kilometers (16 miles) south of the border with Lebanon, the town is vulnerable to rockets launched by Iran-backed Lebanese organization Hezbollah. In October 2024, the group launched a rocket seriously injured a woman.

Around Israel, about a quarter of the population does not have access to proper shelter. But, according to a 2018 report by the Israeli state auditor general, the figure is almost half, which is the latest figure.

“For decades, local Arab authorities have received lower state funding in various regions, including emergency preparedness,” said Lital Piller of the Israel Institute for Democracy.

She said shelters do exist: “They are few, poorly maintained and are usually not suitable for long-term accommodation.”

BBC has contacted Israeli Ministry of Defense.

Israeli Arabs (many of whom prefer to be called Palestinian citizens of Israel), make up one-fifth of the country’s population. By law, they have equal rights with Jewish citizens, but they usually complain about state discrimination and are considered second-class citizens.

When Iraqi missiles attacked Tel Aviv and Haifa in the aftermath of the Gulf War of 1990-91, the Israeli government mandated that all new residential buildings must contain a reinforced security room or Mamad, as we all know.

But Arab communities often face tough planning restrictions, which lead to unregulated buildings and homes without them, activists say.

Local authorities say about 40% of Tamra’s homes have their own security rooms, which has forced most residents to run to their neighbors’ homes to share. In many cases, this is impossible because of the short warning period.

“The gap is huge,” said Ilan Amit of the Center for Empowerment, Equality and Cooperation (AJEEC). “I live in Jerusalem. Every building has a bomb shelter. Every community has a public bomb shelter.”

As the darkness of Tamra fell, residents’ phone calls simultaneously emitted a screaming alarm: “You must stay near the protected area.”

The sirens will soon follow, with residents – just emerging from the trauma of Saturday’s strike – panic. Mothers gather their children and people yell in the streets. Several families stuffed into a safe room in a house. Some cried, some smiled, and some twitched nervously. A man closes his eyes and prays. The prosperity after prosperity is heard above the head.

The issue of shelter is even more evident in the Arab Bedouin communities of Israel – many of which live in villages in the Negev desert without the Israeli government recognized and therefore have no shelter built for them.

The only victim of the escalation of hostilities between Israel and Iran in April 2024 was a young girl from such a community who had been severely injured after debris from Iranian missiles hit her head and spent a year in the hospital.

Lack of shelter is also a common problem in poor Jewish communities in Israel, such as southern Tel Aviv.

A new survey conducted by the Hebrew University found that 82.7% of Jewish Israelis supported the attack on Iran – but 67.9% of Arab Israel opposed it. In addition, 69.2% of Arab Israelis reported fear of strikes – 25.1% despair.

“Arab society feels neglected and forgotten,” Amit said. “There is a huge gap in education and employment. There is a big gap in shelters.”

“You will be angry in the days since this happened,” said Adel Khatib, municipal official at Tamra.

“We don’t get basic needs,” Hatib said. “Most Arab communities, they don’t have community centers or buildings for culture, activities.”

According to official Israeli statistics, in 2023, 42.4% of Arabs live below the poverty line, which is more than twice the proportion of Israel’s general population.

In recent years, attempts have been made to close these gaps. In 2021, the former Israeli government formulated a five-year development plan for Arab society.

“We are on a huge leap in socio-economic development, closing the gap in education, higher education and employment,” Amit said.

But Israel’s current right-wing management alliance is the toughest in its history, gradually reducing the funding of the program – redirecting money elsewhere.

When the government adjusted its budget to fight the ongoing war in Gaza, some of the cuts were in response to the cross-border attack on Israel led by Hamas on October 7, 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and another 251 were taken hostage.

“You know, this government has been sticking with the wheel of this five-year plan, and that doesn’t make the implementation of most parts of the region,” Amit added.

“In the past year and a half, Arab societies have found themselves in a sense between rocks and a difficult place, on the one hand, they have suffered from the policies of the current government and on the other hand, they have seen their brothers and sisters in Gaza and the West Bank, suffering from the war,” he said.

“Everyone is angry and sad,” said neighbor Mohamed Osman, 16, outside the ruins of the family home.

Speaking of Shada, 20, he said: “She has been studying her whole life. She wants to be the best. Her father is a lawyer and she wants to be like him. All these dreams are gone.

“They are the best pictures of a happy family… When I imagine them, I imagine those pieces I see.”

During the vigil before the funeral, dozens of community members gathered to shake hands and greet each other, share coffee and tea, and mourn quietly.

“The bomb is not a choice between Arabs or Jews,” Kasem said. “We have to end this war. We have to end it now.”

Tom Bennett’s photo