Journalist Israel Frey was questioned by police on Wednesday, March 12, on allegations of “incitement to terrorism after he praised attacks” on occupation soldiers and West Bank settlers. Officers interrogated the reporter, a left-wing ultra-Orthodox resident of Bnei Brak, regarding several posts he made on X, specifically his post claiming Palestinian attacks on IDF soldiers and West Bank settlers do not constitute terrorism.
Journalist Israel Frey reporting from the Palestinian occupied territories, February 2022 (Photo: Democrat TV)
After being released by police, Frey said that the posts “draw a simple, factual, moral and necessary distinction between abhorrent harm to innocent people and resistance against security forces.” “In their hearts, the investigators also know that the effort to charge me with support for terrorism is a despicable attempt at persecution aimed to obscure the very existence of the debate over the legality and morality of security forces’ actions,” he wrote on X.” Officers summoned him for questioning in response to a complaint by far-right Btsalmo organization, and released him without conditions. This is not the first time Frey has been detained by police over online comments in December 2022.
Frey has urged Israelis to refuse military service and frequents the anti-government, pro-hostage deal protests that take place weekly on Tel Aviv’s Begin Street outside the Israeli army headquarters. Frey has been an outspoken critic of the war in Gaza since its outset. He came under fire from right-wing activists just days into the fighting after recording a video of himself reciting Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer, for Gazans killed by Israel.
According to Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “The interrogation of journalist Israel Frey and the indictment of Palestinian journalist Sa’id Hassanen, an Israel citizen, are part of an ongoing and growing campaign of political persecution against those who challenge the Israeli government’s policies.” “This crackdown extends beyond Israel’s borders— in the U.S., Palestinian organizer Mohammad Khalil faces indictment under dubious charges, reflecting the same systematic repression of pro-Palestinian advocacy. Through legal harassment, criminalization, and intimidation, the goal is clear: to silence dissent and deter solidarity. But no amount of repression will erase the demand for a just and lasting peace,” added.
Last Tuesday and after five days of protests, Ben-Gurion University decided to lift the suspension of Dr. Sebastian Ben-Daniel. The southern Israeli university suspended the lecturer and announced that it has suspended Ben Daniel “indefinitely” following a series of online statements criticizing the war in Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian territories on an online account under the name “John Brown”.
During several years, Ben Daniel, a teaching fellow in the Department of Computer Science, has used the alias “John Brown” to publish opinions critical of the far-right government and occupation. He is also an opinion columnist for Haaretz and is known for his social media activism.
Related: https://maki.org.il/en/?p=32521
