Six prominent leaders in Israel's Palestinian community arrested

AP , Ahram Online , Thursday 9 Nov 2023

Six prominent leaders in Israel’s Palestinian community have been arrested en route to a protest against Israel's war on the Gaza Strip, said an advocacy group for Israel's Arab citizens.

Gaza
File Photo -People from the Arab community hold a Palestinian flag during a protest against the Jewish nation bill in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2018. AP

 

The detainees include Mohammed Barakeh, a former Knesset lawmaker and head of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens; Sami Abu Shahadeh, the National Democratic Assembly party leader; and Hanin Zoabi, the former lawmaker.

Israeli police claimed in a statement that the protest in Al-Naserah was “liable to incite and harm the public welfare.” The police recently banned antiwar protests.

Barakeh was detained for questioning after he was followed by an unmarked police car, said Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel. He had notified police on Wednesday that the committee planned to hold a protest with fewer than 50 people and therefore did not need a permit.

Adalah said Barakeh’s arrest was illegal and evidence of a policy “designed to muzzle any dissent and to suppress the freedom to protest of Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel.”

Meanwhile, the National Democratic Assembly, an Arab political party that advocates for the rights of Arab citizens in Israel, denounced the "unjustified attack" on the rally called for by the leaders of the Arab community against the bloodshed in Gaza, criticizing ongoing Israeli hostile policy against any position or expression that condemns its aggression on Gaza.

The party stressed that this attack on the Arab community leaders is “a dangerous precedent that carries a clear political message to silence our national, moral, and humanitarian voice and any other voice against the war among the Arab community."

It also demanded the release of all detainees arrested during the rally and those arrested since the beginning of the war.

Short link: