Israel’s Police Chief Kobi Shabtai announced a policy of “zero tolerance” for pro-Hamas demonstrations within Israel, suggesting that those expressing solidarity with the Gaza Strip should consider relocating there.
In a video posted on Tuesday to the Israel Police’s Arabic TikTok channel, Chief Shabtai extended a welcoming message, saying, “Whoever wants to be a citizen of Israel, ahalan wasahlan,” using common Arabic slang meaning “welcome.” However, he added, “Anyone who wants to identify with Gaza is welcome — I’ll put them on buses that will send them there, I’ll help them get there.”
Chief Shabtai emphasized that there would be “zero tolerance for any instance of incitement,” with no authorization for protests. He argued that Israel is “in a state of war” and stressed that they would not permit individuals to provoke or challenge the situation.
Israel Police spokesman Eli Levy revealed that, since the commencement of hostilities on October 7, 63 individuals in Israel have been arrested on suspicion of supporting or inciting terror. Authorities have been closely monitoring social media to identify Arab Israelis expressing support for Hamas and its actions. The conflict in early October resulted in casualties, with approximately 1,400 people losing their lives, the majority of whom were civilians.
Assistant Commissioner Dror Asraf highlighted the importance of countering incitement, referring to lessons learned after the 2021 war with Gaza. He explained that a dedicated “war room” had been established to monitor and address online incitement, planning, or any information aimed at disrupting public order.
In response to planned pro-Gaza demonstrations circulating on social media, Israeli police had previously declared that such events would not be permitted. Right-wing groups had indicated their intention to intervene to prevent these demonstrations.
During an unauthorized rally, six protesters, including three women, were reportedly arrested, and one person was wounded. Additionally, a protest in the Arab Israeli city of Taybeh was dispersed by police. In a separate incident, a 14-year-old in Kafr Qassem was arrested for sharing a video posted by Hamas on social media, praising the group’s actions against Israelis. The teen’s mother, who accompanied him to a police station, was also arrested after allegedly assaulting a policewoman while making racist remarks.
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7 Responses
I’m considering sponsoring Tlaib’s one-way ticket to Israel so Chief Kobi Shabtai can ship her by Coach Bus to Gaza.
Love this. Hope they actually follow through and not just threaten.
This makes so much sense. A citizen of a country has the right to be opposed to a war. But openly siding with the enemy should be dealt with accordingly.
I suppose the USA and the UK should ship all the protesters of the Iraq, Afghanistan etc wars to those territories as well…
JewGut; It’s not illegal to protest war (and to insist your soldiers come back home) – it’s illegal to incite against the citizens on your country and/or to protest Pro-enemy.
(no americans were pro-Vietnam/Iraq/Afghanistan, nor were they anti-USA they simply did not the want the USA to be involved)
@leroy i wonder if you’re old enough to remember “hanoi jane”?
GAGP, you are lying. MANY Americans were openly for the North Vietnamese communists, and for letting our South Vietnamese allies be slaughtered. Likewise MANY Americans openly supported the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. And every university campus is full of people who openly hate America. In the ’60s the protesters even spelled it “Amerika”, to make it sound like it was German, or “Amerikkka”, to associate it with the KKK.
But in America, however you spell it, you have the RIGHT to hate your country and to demonstrate against it and for its enemies. You have the right to “incite against the citizens”, whatever that means, and the police cannot do anything about it. In Israel there is no such right; there are NO rights in Israel. That’s a bad thing, but in this instance it’s good. If we have no rights then let our enemies have no rights either.
@Milhouse,
well put, exactly my point