Welcome to What Matters Now, a weekly podcast exploration into one key issue shaping Israel and the Jewish world — right now.

This past weekend, Israel marked a tragic milestone: In the first half of 2023, over 100 Arab citizens have died by violence.

Just like its manifestation in every community throughout the world, this scourge has many faces — organized crime, domestic violence, random acts of anger, and more. But according to polling by the Abraham Initiative, for several years running, members of Arab communities have said that the issues that most concern them are crime and violence, well above civil status, racist legislation and the stalemate in the peace process.

However, many Arab citizens of Israel feel that the Jewish state just isn’t putting the resources into fighting the wave of violence in a long-term, comprehensive way.

"People are talking about it as the violence in the Arab society. First of all, it’s the violence in the Israeli society," said Prof. Mona Khoury, the Vice President for Strategy and Diversity at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Khoury, a full professor at the Hebrew University School of Social Work, sat with The Times of Israel in her Mount Scopus office this week. Much of her research focuses on children and adolescents' deviant and delinquent behaviors.

But instead of merely studying the phenomena, she has concrete suggestions for breaking the cycle of violence.

This week, when all eyes are finally on the uptick of violence in Arab communities, we ask Prof. Mona Khoury, what matters now.

The following transcript has been lightly edited.

IMAGE: Prof. Mona Khoury, Vice President for Strategy and Diversity, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. (Sharon Gabay)

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