Palestinian citizens of Israel denounce police bans on anti-war protests

Leading voices among Palestinian citizens of Israel denounced on Thursday what they called "punitive policies" by authorities enforced against them in the aftermath of the war in Gaza,

In a press conference held in Haifa, MPs and members of the High Follow-Up Committee - an umbrella group representing Israel's Palestinian citizens - accused police of silencing dissenting voices against Israel's bombing of Gaza.

Aida Touma-Suleiman, a lawmaker, called the Israeli minister of national security, Itamar Ben-Gvir, a “fascist” who is “exploiting the war and what is happening in Gaza, to crack down on our Palestinian communities".

“ He is trying to dehumanise us and take away our feelings of belonging to our land. We reject all of these Israeli policies, whether it's from arrests or the prohibition of protests,” she said.

The press conference comes in the wake of Israeli police threatening officials attending a meeting with Jewish representatives and activists in Haifa, addressing the ongoing war.

Sami Abu Shahada, leader of the Balad party, condemned Israel’s stifling of Palestinians since the start of the war erupted on 7 October.

“This is not the first meeting which Israeli forces have banned and stopped since the start of the war…Israeli police are stopping us from expressing any opinion and calling for the end to the spilling of blood,” he said.

“The Israeli police, through its policies, are shooting itself. This is a joint scream, where we are calling for our rights and are defending our futures and the future of our children. Young people and anyone who is calling for an end to the bombing is being targeted. To any Palestinians living in Israel, should come to us if they experience any form of harassment from Israeli police simply for voicing their opinions, and we have established an emergency department for this,” he said.

The chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee, Mohammed Baraka, said: “We have established this emergency department to provide services for people in 13 different areas, from legal help, to arbitrary arrests, or detained protesters, etc…we have specific things we address and I call on people to not be afraid, and come to us as we are united in our efforts".