Jerusalem | BBC News Brazil
Dozens of Arab citizens of Israel have been arrested over social media posts about the war in Gaza.
Among them is a wellknown singer and influencer from Nazareth, Dalal Abu Amneh, who was held in police custody for two days before being released on bail on Wednesday (18). Now she is under house arrest until next Monday (23).
According to her lawyer, Abeer Baker, she was accused of “disruptive behavior” by police officials who said her publications could incite violence among her followers.
The post that caught police’s attention was an image of the Palestinian flag with Arabic text that read: “There is no winner but God.”
Baker says the singer, known throughout the Arab world for her songs about Palestinian culture, expressed a religious sentiment. Israeli authorities interpreted the singer’s post as a call for Palestinians to take up arms.
Since the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas, Israeli police have pursued a socalled “zero tolerance policy” towards social media activity that is seen as an expression of support for Hamas an Islamic group that preaches and describes the destruction of Israel as terrorist organization of Israel, USA, Great Britain and many other countries.
Abu Amneh is one of dozens of Arab citizens of Israel arrested in connection with social media posts about the war.
Many others have been suspended or fired or face disciplinary action from their universities.
Israeli Arabs many of whom prefer to be called Palestinian citizens of Israel make up a fifth of the country’s population.
Since the Hamas attack, police say they have investigated and arrested more than 100 people because of their social media activities. In Jerusalem alone, 63 people were arrested and interrogated.
“Anyone who instigates [violência] “You must be aware that the Israel Police will respond decisively and without leniency against the State of Israel, its government symbols, elected officials, military personnel and police,” Israeli Police Commissioner Yaakov Shabtai said this week.
The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (Adalah) believes that the number of detainees is higher because there have been more arrests recently.
For comparison, during the IsraelGaza conflict in May 2021, only 16 people including 15 Arabs were charged with inciting violence, according to a report published by Adalah.
Human rights activists fear that this increase in arrests is due to police adopting a broad interpretation of what constitutes incitement to violence.
For example, in the Bedouin town of Rahat, police arrested a former candidate for speaker of the House of Representatives, Amer alHuzail, who shared on social media a map of the Gaza Strip with an analysis of possible scenarios for an expected ground operation by Israeli forces. .
This led to him being accused of aiding the enemy in wartime.
But even if no criminal charges are filed, some people in Israel still face serious consequences for their social media activities.
Lawyers working for Adalah say they have received more than 40 cases in which Arab Israeli workers were suspended or fired from their jobs.
“Sometimes people see their existence threatened just because they like a post,” says Salam Irsheid, the organization’s lawyer. “We even have the case of a worker who is at risk of being fired because he liked a report about the situation in Gaza on social media.”
Arab students in Israel also face disciplinary measures from their universities.
Last week, Ariel Porat, president of Tel Aviv University, said some students had been reported for “expressing support for Hamas atrocities.”
“We will deal very strictly with this handful of students,” he wrote in a statement on the university’s website, “and if we feel that the offense is criminal in nature, we will report it to the police in this sensitive situation, but “We will not deny any student the right to a fair investigation.”
Adalah’s lawyers say they have received complaints from 83 students who have been suspended from educational institutions across the country and, in some cases, asked to leave their accommodation at short notice.
“None of the cases involve actions, demonstrations or involvement in illegal activities. It’s all about social media posts,” says Hassan Jabareen, general manager of Adalah.
“More than 90% of the posts are clearly directed against the war, against Israel’s actions in Gaza and in support of the victims of the war in Gaza,” he added.
“Ten percent of the posts are in a vague area that could be interpreted as indirect support for Hamas’ actions against civilians. In normal times you wouldn’t interpret them that way, but these days Israel tends to give these posts the harshest interpretation.”
Israeli Jewish voices calling against violence are also met with public outrage.
Last Sunday, a famous leftwing ultraOrthodox Jewish journalist, Israel Frey, had to be escorted by Tel Aviv police for his own protection.
Protesters gathered outside the building where he lives and set off fireworks in his apartment after he posted a video on social media in which he prayed for civilians in Gaza.
And on Wednesday, Ofer Cassif, a Jewish lawmaker from the Arabled Hadash Taal alliance, was suspended from Israel’s parliament for 45 days after he strongly condemned the bombing of Gaza.
In one of his recent posts on X, formerly known as Twitter, he criticized the police, who he said did not immediately intervene in Frey’s defense.
“Armed police forces are being deployed to arrest anyone who shows any trace of sympathy for the massacres in Gaza,” he wrote.
“But the police have no interest in protecting a leftwing journalist whose life is in danger.”
This text was originally published here.