Iran’s retaliatory missile strike against Israel has exposed a glaring and systemic racial discrimination in civil defence, as reports confirmed that Arab citizens and foreign workers were denied access to bomb shelters, while Jewish residents were granted protection. This alarming scenario reflects the entrenched apartheid system inside Israel — one that persists even during times of national crisis.
According to a report by Anadolu Agency, this discrimination targeted Palestinian citizens of Israel — the indigenous Arabs who remained in their homeland after the 1948 occupation. Local reports confirmed that most Arab homes lack fortified shelters, making them far more vulnerable during missile strikes.
On June 13, 2025, Israel — with implicit U.S. support — launched a wide-scale attack on Iran, targeting nuclear facilities, missile sites, military commanders, and nuclear scientists. Tehran responded with ballistic missiles and drones, marking the largest direct confrontation between the two countries to date.
Since then, multiple eyewitnesses and reports have confirmed that shelters were closed to Arabs and non-Jewish residents across several areas in Israel.
Collective Expulsions from Bomb Shelters
Arab journalist Mohammed Majadleh, reporting for Israel’s Channel 12, revealed that Jewish residents in the Krayot area (north) expelled an Arab nurse from a shelter “simply because she was Arab.”
In another incident, a veiled Arab woman and her family were kicked out of a shelter in Jaffa, he wrote on X (formerly Twitter), adding:
“This is Israel in the year 2025.”
The news outlet Arab 48 also reported that Arab students were barred from entering bomb shelters at a college, despite official instructions from Tel Aviv’s municipality to open all shelters during emergencies.
A video circulated on social media showed Israeli youths blocking Thai workers from entering a shelter during an Iranian missile strike. One of them can be heard yelling:
“This shelter is for Jews only. No entry for Thai workers!” — followed by racist insults.
According to Anadolu, there are approximately 2.1 million Palestinian citizens inside Israel, out of a total population of around 10.1 million, based on the Israeli Central Bureau of Statistics (April 2025).
Forced to Hide Under Stairs
The discrimination is not just in behaviour — it is built into the infrastructure.
According to The Guardian, citing Israel’s State Comptroller, less than 15% of Arab municipalities (including Bedouin and Druze communities) possess public shelters, compared to over 1,000 shelters in Jewish areas — indicating a systematic failure to provide equal protection during war.
On June 15, Iranian missiles struck the Arab city of Tamra in the Galilee, killing a woman, her two daughters, and a relative, with several others injured, according to Hebrew media.
Times of Israel quoted “Hussein,” a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, saying he hides under the stairs during missile alerts because his building has no shelter. The paper confirmed that most Arab homes in Jerusalem lack fortified safe rooms, and public shelters — usually located in newer schools — are rare in Arab areas.
By contrast, shelters are common throughout the Jewish neighbourhoods of East Jerusalem.
Bedouins in the Negev: Left Defenceless
Conditions in southern Israel are even more dire. On June 20, the Israeli NGO “Israel Gives” launched an emergency campaign to buy mobile shelters for Bedouin communities in the Negev Desert after Iranian missiles caused damage there.
The campaign seeks to raise funds for security-standard shelters and to pressure authorities over what it called “systemic discrimination” against Arab communities. Tens of thousands of Bedouins live in unrecognised villages, lacking shelters, water, electricity, schools, and healthcare.
The group noted that hundreds of families sleep under bridges or near railway tracks, fearing missile attacks without any protection.
Last week, thousands of Palestinian citizens in the Negev protested Israel’s escalating campaign to demolish Arab homes under the pretext of “unlicensed construction.”
Legalised Discrimination Through Citizenship Law
On February 15, 2023, the Israeli Knesset passed an amendment to the Citizenship Law, with 95 votes in favour and only 10 against. The amendment allows the Interior Minister to revoke citizenship from Arab citizens in Israel or residency permits from Palestinians in East Jerusalem if they receive financial support from the Palestinian Authority.
Under the law, upon completing a prison sentence, such individuals can be deported to Palestinian Authority territories — in the West Bank or Gaza.
Conclusion: Apartheid in the Bomb Shelter
The missile war between Iran and Israel has revealed more than just military calculations. It has laid bare the structural apartheid that governs the daily lives of Palestinians inside Israel and non-Jewish residents, who are denied equal protection, equal rights, and equal safety, even in moments of existential threat.
This is not about isolated incidents or rogue racism — it is institutional discrimination, reinforced by policy, budget, and political ideology.
Iran’s missiles may not have only targeted military sites — they also illuminated the moral bankruptcy of a regime that claims democracy but draws its battle lines based on ethnicity and faith.
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