Israel Police detained former Arab Knesset member Haneen Zoabi on Sunday morning on suspicion of incitement and publicly expressing support for a terrorist organisation.
The arrest follows complaints about remarks Zoabi made at the Palestine Congress in Vienna in October 2024, where she justified Hamas’s October 7 attack.
“It wasn’t Hamas that resisted; it was the Palestinian people. And yes, you cannot separate Hamas from the Palestinian people,” Zoabi said in her speech. “When they entered on October 7, they did not enter Israeli territory; they entered their own land. This is their land.”
Police said her comments raised suspicion of “publicly expressing support for a terrorist organisation and incitement to commit an act of terrorism.”
In a statement, Israel Police said, “After receiving the report, collecting evidence, and reviewing it with the relevant authorities, it was determined that her statements were suspected of constituting the offence of publicly expressing support for a terrorist organisation and incitement to commit an act of terrorism. Israel Police will act firmly against anyone who praises or identifies with terrorist organisations or enemy states and encourages their actions during wartime, whether online or anywhere else, to protect public security.”
Hadash, a joint Arab-Jewish political party, condemned the arrest, calling it “political persecution” aimed at silencing opposition to the Gaza war.
Approximately 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 48 remaining hostages, about 20 are believed to be alive.
Zoabi, who represented Balad in the Knesset from 2009 to 2019, has long been a controversial figure. In 2010, she joined the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara flotilla, which ended in violent clashes with Israeli naval commandos. In 2022, she was convicted in a forgery case involving party donations and received a one-year suspended prison sentence and a NIS 75,000 ($22,400) fine.
