Arab journalist released from police detention, slams ‘culture of fear’

Police on Sunday released journalist Abed Abou Shahadeh, who was detained overnight Tuesday-Wednesday on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent after he traveled to Qatar for an interview with fugitive former MK Azmi Bishara ahead of the October 27 election.

Abou Shahadeh was released from a police station in Petah Tikva without charge after police decided not to petition the court for an extension of his remand. Asked whether the case against Abou Shahadeh was closed, police referred The Times of Israel to the Shin Bet spokesperson, who did not respond to a request for comment.

According to his family and lawyers, about 15 masked officers from the police and Shin Bet raided Abou Shahadeh’s Jaffa home late at night, detained him without explanation and seized his computer and phone.

At a Jaffa reception after his release, Abou Shahadeh described being held alone in a 2-meter-by-2-meter cell for 24 hours a day.

“You start to appreciate the things we take for granted — our children, partners and parents, but also each other,” he said.

Abou Shahadeh’s wife, Hanin Aghbaria, said a plainclothes officer entered her bedroom while she was there with the couple’s two young sons and her husband was in the living room. Aghbaria said she screamed when the officer entered, and that it was the only moment she felt afraid during the whole ordeal.

“I thought he was a burglar,” she said. “He came in like a thief, and he snatched my husband.”

She said she has long expected security forces to come after her husband and that six months ago, 15 officers had also come to the family’s home “for no reason” and stayed for ten minutes.

Supporters greet journalist Abed Abou Shahadeh @AbedYaffa with a chorus of 'Janna Ya Watanna' (Heaven our Homeland) in Jaffa after police released him without charge. pic.twitter.com/PvAef0DDPn

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— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) November 8, 2026

Abou Shahadeh, 38, is head of podcasting at the Arab48 news site and host of its flagship podcast Al-Midan. His commentary has also appeared in left-wing Israeli outlet Local Call and on Al Jazeera.

Abou Shahadeh also heads Jaffa’s Islamic Council and previously sat on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa city council as a representative for Yafa, a municipal alliance of binational communist party Hadash and Palestinian nationalist party Balad, two of the three factions that make up the Joint List.

Dozens of well-wishers and press assembled at the headquarters of the League for the Arabs of Jaffa to welcome Abou Shahadeh shortly after noon on Wednesday. As he approached the building, they cheered and sang “Janna Ya Watanna” (Heaven our Homeland), an Arabic patriotic song.

Among those present was Balad leader and former MK Sami Abou Shahadeh, the journalist’s cousin. Sami Abou Shahadeh was placed at no. 3 on the Joint List candidate slate in the election but dropped out after the Central Elections Committee voted to disqualify him over purported support for armed conflict against Israel, and the Supreme Court indicated it would uphold the ban.

Also present were Tel Aviv-Jaffa Deputy Mayor Amir Badran of Hadash, and former MK Jamal Zahalka, who took over Balad after Bishara fled the country and now leads the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an umbrella group. Bishara fled in 2007 amid suspicions he had assisted Hezbollah in the previous year’s Second Lebanon War.

At the reception, speaking first in Arabic and then in Hebrew, Abed Abou Shahadeh urged supporters to hold their heads high in the face of “political persecution.”

“I abhor the culture of fear,” he said. “The political persecution didn’t start with me and won’t end with me.”

“We must not be afraid,” Abou Shahadeh said. “We must not fall into that trap.”

He called for coexistence and for supporters to keep working “step by step” toward “a better future for Arab children and for Jewish children.”

“People just want to make a living,” he said.

Journalist Abed Abou Shahadeh @AbedYaffa addresses international supporters in English during a reception in Jaffa after he was released without charge pic.twitter.com/kA2QdCIa25

— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) November 8, 2026

Ending in English, Abou Shahadeh thanked his international supporters, including the three Jewish Democratic US congressmen-elect who penned a letter demanding his release.

The Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court had on Wednesday let police keep Abou Shahadeh in custody until Sunday, partially accepting officers’ request for an eight-day extension of the journalist’s remand. A second remand hearing scheduled for Sunday morning was canceled following his release.

Abou Shahadeh’s lawyers argued in court on Wednesday that the allegations against their client pertained only to the interview with Bishara, and accused police and the Shin Bet of punishing Abou Shahadeh for his journalism.

A police representative at the hearing declined to confirm whether the interview was the only alleged offense, and instead referred the court to a confidential dossier submitted by investigators.

The arrest came as the Shin Bet probes allegations of foreign interference in the election, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lost his parliamentary majority on the heels of unprecedented Arab voter turnout.

Netanyahu has seized on the allegations to claim Arab parties “stole” the election.

Critics have accused Shin Bet chief David Zini of manufacturing the case at Netanyahu’s bidding, and unnamed senior officials in the domestic security service have been quoted in Hebrew media accusing Zini of blowing the investigation out of proportion.

Zini is also said to have sought the interrogation of three senior Arab politicians, including Sami Abou Shahadeh, without evidence of wrongdoing.

Sami Abou Shahadeh wrote on X after his cousin’s release that now “Zini, Netanyahu’s marionette, is expected to go after a new target.”

“Netanyahu, who refuses to accept his election loss, will keep making up lies and falsehoods, and we’ll keep working toward a different reality,” the Balad chief wrote.