As a representative of the police, Ms. Samri walks a fine line between being fully integrated into the establishment and being a minority. Arab citizens of Israel make up more than 20 percent of the country’s population, and they have long complained about discrimination in state budgets and policies.

Her role in explaining government policy and actions has also put her at odds with the country’s Arab political leadership.

The upsurge in violence has in part been fanned by a dispute over the Jerusalem holy site revered by Muslims as the Aqsa Mosque compound, or Haram al-Sharif, and by Jews as the Temple Mount.

Arab members of the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, say they oppose violence by Israel’s Arab citizens. But they have accused Israel of changing a decades-old status quo at the site and the police of being trigger-happy. Thousands of Israel’s Arabs have participated in strikes and protests, clashing with the police in recent weeks and adding to the turbulent atmosphere.

“Al Aqsa is not only a religious symbol, it is a political, national and cultural symbol for the Palestinians,” Ahmad Tibi, a Knesset member from the Joint Arab List, which holds 13 seats in the 120-seat Parliament, said at a news conference in East Jerusalem this week.

Ms. Samri, articulating the official government line, insists that Israel has no intention of changing the status quo at the Aqsa Mosque compound. She has attributed much of the recent violence to incitement spread by Palestinians on social networks, and she brusquely rejects accusations that the police are using excessive force and shooting to kill.

“We are the police,” she said. “We are not criminals or murderers.”

Ms. Samri was speaking at a corner table in a small cafe near her Jerusalem apartment, where she lives alone. She could barely finish a sentence without her smartphone buzzing with calls and messages, swiping and typing furiously as she sent out a constant flow of updates, in Arabic and Hebrew, to hundreds of followers in her WhatsApp groups.