Israel's Palestinian citizens face a wave of repression amid Gaza war

Since Hamas’ attack on 7 October, Palestinian citizens of Israel are facing a mounting backlash for expressing solidarity with Gazans and criticising Israel’s brutal assault, which has so far killed over 6,000 people.

Amid an Israeli crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent, Palestinians in Israel have been singled out by police, schools, and employers over social media posts since the war started.

Numerous incidents of reprisal attacks, arrests, job dismissals, and suspensions from universities and schools have been reported.

Palestinian citizens make up around 20 percent of Israel’s population and are the descendants of those who managed to stay in their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled.

Amjad Iraqi, editor at +972 Magazine and policy analyst at the think tank Al-Shabaka, called the campaign of targeted repression in the past couple of weeks a “totalitarian shift” in which Jewish Israeli society is on board with their government in not tolerating any voices expressing “Palestinianness”.

"Amid an Israeli crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent, Palestinians in Israel have been singled out by police, schools, and employers over social media posts since the war started"

“It’s to make everyone fall in line with a single narrative, any kind of dissent is not allowed,” the analyst told The New Arab. “It’s very alarming”.

Due to the massive shock at Hamas’ attack, the widespread perception in Israel is that Palestinians are “the problem”, reflecting the anti-Arab rhetoric used by far-right leaders.

Adalah, a legal centre for the protection of Palestinian minority rights in Israel, has so far received 91 reports of complaints filed against Palestinian students at colleges and universities across Israel which have resulted in suspensions, expulsions, and even arrests for online statements alleged to be supportive of Hamas and its attack.

Seventy-four of the students represented by Adalah are enrolled in 25 academic institutions nationwide

Adi Mansour, a lawyer representing Adalah, estimated that some 100 students have faced disciplinary proceedings on the basis of freedom of expression. In most cases, students simply expressed solidarity with people in Gaza or quoted verses from the Quran.

Citing some examples of students persecuted for their online content, the lawyer explained that many posts have been misinterpreted or wrongfully deemed to display support for Hamas.

In one instance, a student from the Haifa-based Technion - Israel Institute of Technology shared a story on Instagram of a Palestinian student cooking shakshuka three days after the war erupted, along with the Arabic caption “Soon we will eat the Shakshuka of victory” with a Palestinian flag.

Another student from a college in Salfit posted an image online depicting champagne bottles and balloons celebrating her sister’s engagement on the same day the Hamas assault occurred.

“This is creating a very hard chilling effect on anyone. At this time, people are terrified about expressing their opinions in public or posting online,” Mansour told The New Arab.

Similarly, Iraqi observed “overwhelming fear” in Israel’s Palestinian community to talk openly about politics or even speak Arabic.

Media reports indicate that radical right-wing Israeli groups are actively monitoring Palestinians’ social media accounts and engaging in smear campaigns, including circulating personal information about Palestinians based on the posts they either shared, liked, or commented on.

In a letter addressed to Israeli Education Minister Yoav Kisch last week, nine schools complained that they were facing pressure from The Council for Higher Education in Israel to investigate complaints regarding expressions of identification with Hamas or Gaza.

"This is creating a very hard chilling effect on everyone. At this time, people are terrified about expressing their opinions in public or posting online"

But the witch-hunt against Palestinian citizens of Israel also goes well beyond educational establishments.

Jaafar Farah, director of the Musawah rights organisation, told AFP that since the beginning of the war, nearly 150 Palestinian workers have been fired from their jobs.

Adalah is aware of more than 50 cases of employees suddenly suspended or sacked from their workplaces in different sectors such as retail, construction, hospitals, high-tech, and others.

The Haaretz newspaper reported that the Rehovot municipality south of Tel Aviv demanded that developers in the city sign a pledge not to allow Palestinian labourers onto their construction sites. Inspectors of the Jerusalem municipality also prevented Palestinian construction workers from entering several sites in central Israel.

Israel's Civil Service Commission issued a letter on 11 October requiring state bodies to notify the commission of any statements made by their employees supporting “terrorism” and expressing views “hostile” to Israel, with instructions on steps to be taken against them.

Lawyers and doctors have also had their licenses revoked for voicing their opinions on social media.

A Palestinian-Israeli teacher in a secondary school in the Israeli city of Tiberias was indefinitely suspended for liking posts belonging to the popular page “Eye on Palestine” on Instagram.

Meanwhile, Palestinian singer Dalal Abu Amneh, who’s also a neurologist in Haifa, was briefly arrested last week over alleged claims of “incitement” after she posted in support of Gaza: “There’s no victor but God" in reference to a verse from the Quran.

In a situational assessment, Israeli police have warned against “support for terrorism” among Israel’s Palestinian citizens.

Israeli Police said at least 170 Palestinians had been arrested or summoned for questioning related to online expression. The mass scale of arrests, the highest rate observed in such a short time span in 20 years, according to Adalah, points to a trend of stifling free speech amid Israel’s intensified bombing campaign of Gaza.

“There is a smear campaign of arrests in Jerusalem and 48 areas for the ones who post online in relation to the current situation,” Al Jazeera presenter Rawaa Augé posted in a tweet. “Many Palestinians in Israel are refraining themselves from posting online, waiting to understand what is considered to be legal and what is not in the midst of this crisis.”

"It's not a violation of freedom of speech, it's a total denial of it. You're not only not allowed to say what you want, but you're expected to say what the state wants"

Based on official data from the Israeli State Attorney’s office, at least 100 Palestinian citizens of Israel have been investigated and detained for their social media activity since Hamas’ attack, most of them with charges of incitement and supporting terrorism. Adalah, which has monitored over 70 cases, believes the number of detainees exceeds 100 as it witnessed dozens of more arrests recently.

As part of the harsh clampdown against Palestinians in Israel and East Jerusalem, the Israeli Police Commissioner on 17 October issued a sweeping directive banning protests against the offensive on Gaza. In incendiary remarks, the police chief threatened to send Palestinian citizens of Israel who “identify” with the blockaded coastal strip to Gaza.

In the two days that followed the ban on protests, police forces violently repressed demonstrations against the Israeli onslaught on Gaza in Haifa and in the Palestinian town of Umm al-Fahem. They arrested 17 demonstrators, including minors.

Adalah’s Mansour, who’s also representing people arrested at protests, noted that in Haifa 50 to 60 officers showed up at the rally site and began chasing people before they had even started protesting.

“It’s not a violation of freedom of speech, it’s a total denial of it,” the lawyer said. “You’re not only not allowed to say what you want, but you’re expected to say what the state wants.”

Mansour said the Israeli state is trying to deter anyone in the Palestinian community from organising or doing anything. “I can’t even imagine how in future people will be able to talk about Palestine again,” he said.

For Amjad Iraqi, the attack by Hamas triggered a great sense of vulnerability among Israelis, which has led to a hardline response aimed at restoring control. “For Israel, it’s about asserting full force, the power of the state and of society to re-secure itself,” he said.

Alessandra Bajec is a freelance journalist currently based in Tunis.

Follow her on Twitter: @AlessandraBajec