(Reported by Yanal Jabarin)
On May 30th, Rasha Karim Harami, an Israeli-Arab citizen who lives in Israel, published a story on social media against Israel's activities in Rafah and was arrested for disturbing public order. The arrest, which was recorded on a policeman's body camera, was leaked and went viral.
Karim (40), an Arab citizen from the settlement of Majd al-Krom in Northern Israel, was arrested on suspicion of "disorderly conduct", in a humiliating manner - tying her hands with plastic handcuffs and covering her eyes.
Like many citizens in Israel and around the world, Karim was exposed on Sunday night to videos and photos of the difficult situation in Rafah, and she also expressed her anger on social media. She posted two stories, both with the same message. In the first post she wrote: "Write about the Holocaust of Netanyahu, where are the Arabs who talk about the Holocaust of the Jews by the Nazis, what is the difference between what Netanyahu is doing and what Hitler did, bodies of children, young and old women were burned." Her second post is actually a sharing of someone else's post, criticizing the indifference of Arab citizens to the situation in Gaza: "Explain to me the difference between Hitler's holocaust and Netanyahu's, you cowards."
Karim stayed in detention for less than 24 hours and released to house arrest for 5 more days. The video of the arrest gained hundreds of thousands of views in Israel and abroad. "We did not expect that the video would be distributed like this on the networks," Manae said. On her Instagram account, Karim wrote: "They wanted to embarrass me and scare all Arab citizens, but God blessed me with indescribably wide support."
In the last week, hundreds of Arab and Jewish citizens came out to demonstrate against the war in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, Umm El Fahm and other localities. In Haifa, nine protesters were arrested, three of whom were brought before a judge who rejected the claims of the police and accepted the claims of the lawyers on behalf of the Adalah organization.
"We have had many arrest cases since October 7 following the expression of opinions and publications on social networks," explains attorney Hossein Manae, who represents Karim. "Since Ramadan, there has also been a decrease in the freedom of protest. Apparently they are interested in scaring the public through preventive arrests based on posts."
The Israel Police responded: "The Israel Police received a report about several posts published by the suspect against IDF soldiers and the government of Israel and may violate public peace. The suspect was arrested and after her interrogation it was decided to continue her arrest under house arrest for five days. The Israel Police will continue to act resolutely against any manifestation of incitement against the security forces and support for a terrorist organization. These things may violate public order and endanger the peace of citizens."
The attorney's office stated: "Regarding the arrest of a resident of Majd al-Krom on suspicion of violating public order, we would like to clarify that the investigation of incitement offenses, including in the aforementioned case, require prior approval from the attorney's office. In this case, an investigation permit was not requested, and therefore, naturally, such approval was not granted either. According to the prosecutor's office, under the circumstances of the published case, the decision of the police to handcuff the suspect with plastic handcuffs and cover her eyes with a flannel is not clear."
I've reported in Nov. 2023 about using the war as a precursor to eroding Israelis' human rights - jump to minute 9:10:
Read the full article about Rasha Karim- use google translate: https://ha-makom.co.il/rasha-kraiem
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Preventive Arrests Continue, Violating Freedom of Speech & Human Rights of Israelis