<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/22/an-atmosphere-of-fear-free-speech-under-threat-in-israel-activists-say>
"Two activists from a Jewish-Arab peace movement were recently detained in
Israel for putting up posters with a message that the police deemed to be
offensive. The message was: “Jews and Arabs, we will get through this
together.”
The activists, members of Standing Together, had their posters confiscated, as
well as T-shirts printed with peace slogans in Hebrew and Arabic.
It was not an isolated incident. Across Israel, people are being detained,
fired from their jobs, and even attacked for expressing sentiments interpreted
by some as showing sympathy for Hamas after the group’s murderous attack on 7
October. The definition of pro-Hamas is often widened to include expressions of
sympathy for the plight of Palestinian children trapped in Gaza, or calls for
peace, especially if expressed in both Arabic and Hebrew.
Last week, after 15 years of service at a Petah Tikva hospital, its director of
the cardiac intensive care unit was suspended from his position. Abed Samara’s
apparent offence was his profile picture on social media – a dove carrying an
olive twig and a green flag emblazoned with the shahada, the Muslim declaration
of faith: “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet.” He had
adopted the picture last year, long before the Hamas attack, but it was
nevertheless seen as somehow voicing support for the outrage.
Last week, Samara also posted a quote attributed to the prophet Muhammad, about
how Muslims would have to answer for their actions on the day of judgment,
which the doctor told Haaretz was aimed at “Muslim leaders and clerics who are
not doing enough to stop the bloodshed”.
Nonetheless, hospital authorities deemed it to be supportive of the enemy.
The crackdown is directed primarily by the government of Benjamin Netanyahu.
Since the attack, police have been given wide discretion to determine what
applies as support for terrorism. They no longer have to refer back to the
state prosecutors, which the human rights lawyer Michael Sfard said removes an
important level of legal protection for individual free speech."
Via Kevin O'Brien.
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
