World
Palestinian Journalist Abed Abou Shhadeh Released After Five-Day Detention
Israeli authorities released Palestinian journalist Abed Abou Shhadeh after holding him for five days without charge. Abou Shhadeh, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was detained on Tuesday on suspicion of “contact with a foreign agent” and alleged receipt of money from foreign sources to support Israel’s Arab voters, according to the legal rights group Adalah, which is part of his defence team. He was held in a Shin Bet intelligence facility in Petah Tikva, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv. After his release, Abou Shhadeh said on Sunday that his detention was part of “political measures” intended to intimidate Arab society as a whole. He added that he would continue his work as a journalist and that the most appropriate response was to reaffirm that they are on the right side and that their path is the path of truth. Abou Shhadeh was arrested in the middle of the night on Tuesday after 15 Israeli security officers raided his home in Jaffa and confiscated personal belongings, such as electronic devices and books, in front of his two children. The accusation came after Abou Shhadeh spoke on the al‑Midan podcast for the Arab48 website and appeared as an analyst on Al Jazeera, addressing topics similar to those discussed in Israeli media outlets. Hadeel Abu Salih, his legal counsel and a human rights lawyer with Adalah, said the police had no evidence and that the suspicion relied on a public conversation he had with Palestinian intellectual Azmi Bishara when he was in Qatar. Abu Salih said the Israeli system turned that discussion and analysis into a criminal suspicion, claiming that the lawyer was being portrayed as a political counsel rather than a journalist. Adalah founder Hassan Jabareen told Al Jazeera that the five‑day detention was part of a campaign against the votes of Arabs and Palestinians in Israel, aimed at delegitimising their votes by using claims against Abou Shhadeh. Jabareen said Israel sought to portray Arabs as using illegal means in their political participation in the Israeli elections.