Arab-Israelis fear new laws turning them into ‘second-class citizens’

“I was treated as though I was some major criminal — and all for an organised protest for which we actually had a permit,” he said. “There has always been a sense of different treatment of Palestinians and Israelis. But [since the start of the war] the environment is much more electrified.”

Shafamer’s view is widely shared among Israel’s 2mn-strong Arab minority, who make up a fifth of the country’s population, and are descendants of the Palestinians who remained inside the borders of the newly established Israeli state after the war of 1948. A further 5mn Palestinians live in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.