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Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Arab minority – comprising approximately 21% of the total population – has endured institutionalised and systematic violations of fundamental human rights. These include the rights to equality, due process, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, freedom of occupation, family life, and the right to vote and be elected. Such violations have been enacted through legislation, government policies, and administrative practices, while judicial oversight has remained limited and insufficient to effectively curb them.

In recent years, however, the state and its authorities have also enabled violations of the Arab minority’s right to life – a right the Supreme Court has defined as fundamental, as it is the prerequisite for the realisation of all other rights. As retired Justice Ayala Procaccia wrote, “Without life, nothing remains.”

The Knesset, too, has recognised the importance of the right to life. Section 4 of Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty provides that “every person is entitled to protection of their life.” Former Deputy President of the Supreme Court Elyakim Rubinstein explained that this provision imposes an affirmative duty on the state to protect the right to life.

Supreme Court justices have likewise repeatedly affirmed the police’s fundamental duty to protect the public from criminal harm to life and bodily integrity, and have ruled that the police are not immune from tort........

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