Israel police chief threatens to send Palestinian citizens to Gaza for solidarity posts

Israel's police commissioner, Kobi Shabtai, has threatened to send Palestinian citizens of Israel to Gaza for showing support for Palestinians in the enclave as they suffer heavy Israeli bombardment.

Shabtai made the comment in a post on the TikTok channel of the Israeli police Tuesday.

"Whoever wants to become an Israeli citizen, welcome," Shabtai said in the TikTok video. "Anyone who wants to identify with Gaza is welcome. I will put him on the buses heading there now."

Shabtai's statement came as scores of Palestinian citizens of Israel face arrest and interrogation over statements of solidarity with Gaza.

"We are in a state of war. From our perspective, the orders are unequivocal," Shabtai said.

"Zero tolerance for any event, no incitement, whether it's from a nurse, doctor, or singer. There will be no approvals for approvals for protests [...]. We are not in a situation now to start allowing these individuals to mess with us".

Israeli police said Wednesday that since the start of the war, they had opened criminal investigations against 158 social media users who have posted statements or materials alleged to "encourage and support what Hamas is doing and calling for continuing to harm Jews".

Protests have raged across the Arab world since Israel started bombarding the Gaza Strip, while the death toll has reached more than 3,700, with 13,000 wounded. Israel attacked Gaza in revenge for Hamas' attack on 7 October which left over 1,300 Israelis dead. 

It has bombed the besieged territory indiscriminately, targeting hospitals and flattening entire districts.

Since Hamas launched its Al-Aqsa Flood operation on 7 October, the cyber unit of Israel's security services has closely monitored social media, with far-right Israeli activists also voluntarily monitoring Palestinian activists, threatening them and sharing their names and personal details.

Dr Amer Al-Hazeel, a political science researcher and candidate for mayor in the Palestinian Bedouin town of Rahat in southern Israel, was arrested on the basis of posts made on social media, and alleged "cooperation" with Palestinian factions. He was released on Thursday.

His lawyer, Shahda Bin Biri, explained that Al-Hazeel's arrest last Friday had been in connection with a post in which he analysed the causes of the war. He was accused of "assisting the enemy in wartime".

Bin Biri added: "other arrests have occurred in the Negev, from Tel as-Sabi and Atrash and Rahat and other areas".

Muhammad Kanaana, a leading member of 'Abnaa el-Balad' (Sons of the Homeland), a political organisation made up of Palestinian citizens of Israel, was also detained then put under house arrest for five days, after posting statements about Israel's Gaza assault.

"I was arrested alongside my two sons As'ad and Hakim, and my brother-in-law... a large armed force arrived and brutally beat my son Hakim, who had to receive hospital treatment, they also attacked the residents with their cars and the shops in the neighborhood in Arraba."

One of Kanaana's posts read: "#Gaza is not burning, #Gaza is being annihilated. The war of extermination continues with Zionist approval and consensus and the European-American support." 

Adalah, the Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has sent a letter to the Police Commissioner and Israel's Attorney General to demand the immediate cancellation of the Commissioner's "illegal" directive.