Singer and neuroscientist Dalal Abu Amneh was a victim of political persecution. Haaretz’s Hebrew edition published a chilling account that reveals this persecution, from the first informer through the incited masses and the neighbors to the police, the justice system and the Afula municipality.
It all began with something she posted after Hamas’ attack on October 7 – “God is the only victor,” along with a Palestinian flag. That was enough to ignite the persecution reserved for Arabs labeled as supporters of terrorism, even though only anti-Arab prejudice could explain seeing this post as support for Hamas.
The post was shared, and as it spread, so did the public onslaught and the threats. When Abu Amneh complained to the police, it turned out that they were already on her trail.
In times of crisis, there is no freedom of expression in Israel, especially not for Arabs. At the start of the war, State Prosecutor Amit Aisman gave the police sweeping permission to open investigations into anyone suspected of supporting the October 7 massacre.
The result was a wave of arrests, many of them unjustified, of Arabs who dared to criticize the war or express solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip.
At the police station, the officers verbally abused Abu Amneh, subjected her to a body search, shackled her wrists and ankles and detained her for three days before releasing her to five days of house arrest. The case was referred to the prosecution, which viewed it as quite weak, and it is expected to be closed. But the damage has already been done.
For more than two and a half months, Abu Amneh has suffered from daily demonstrations outside her home in Afula. Dozens of protesters, led by Mayor Avi Elkabetz, show up every evening and demand that she and her family be kicked out. The water supply to the house has been cut off and a dumpster has been placed outside the house. And when she turned to the police, she said, the officers ignored her complaints and sided with the demonstrators.
“They chose me as a scapegoat precisely because I’m a normative person – educated, an academic,” she said. “They want to break my spirit in order to intimidate all of us – all the Arabs.”
That’s the way things are when you’re an Arab citizen of Israel. It’s enough for one Facebook post to be misunderstood to have your life and that of your family turned upside down.
Abu Amneh’s case reveals the rot in the police, the prosecution and the municipality. Everyone she encountered abused their positions, and all of them were party to this baseless political harassment.