Arab teacher arrested over TikTok dance says she was held in police car overnight

Entisar Hijaze says she had meant no harm with video posted with Oct. 7 timestamp, is reportedly planning to sue police and Ben Gvir

Entisar Hijaze speaks with Channel 12 on October 10, 2024. (Screen capture/Channel 12)
Entisar Hijaze speaks with Channel 12 on October 10, 2024. (Screen capture/Channel 12)

An Arab Israeli educator has said she was kept in a police car overnight with her eyes covered and her hands and feet cuffed after posting a video of herself dancing with an October 7 timestamp, in her first interview since the controversial arrest.

Entisar Hijaze was picked up after National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, whose ministry oversees the police force, forwarded her social media post to a police department dedicated to combating online incitement. The measure sparked outrage among observers who suggested that the post was merely a misunderstood TikTok dance trend.

“I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. I’ve never hurt anyone before,” Hijaze told Channel 12 on Thursday.

Hijaze explained that on the day of October 7, 2023, she had arrived early at the school where she works in Yafa an-Naseriyye in northern Israel, and filmed a video of herself dancing. She said she was not aware at the time of what was unfolding on the Gaza border.

Her feed includes countless other such videos, in addition to several after the Hamas onslaught in which she mourned a Jewish friend from Kibbutz Be’eri who was murdered that day.

Earlier this week, TikTok sent her a reminder of the video, and she decided to post it. The app then included the original date when it was published. This led to attention on social media by some who believed she was celebrating the anniversary of the massacres. When the post reached Ben Gvir he urged police to investigate the matter on suspicion that Hijaze was supporting terrorism.

Entisar Hijaze seen being arrested by police early on October 8, 2024, in Tamra, northern Israel. (Israel Police)

“I didn’t write anything on the post or have any intention to hurt anyone or do something bad,” Hijaze told Channel 12.

She described mistreatment by officers at the police station in Nazareth who cuffed her hands and feet and blindfolded her with a flannel material that is typically reserved for Palestinian suspects in the West Bank, which led to accusations of racism.

After being forced to sleep in the police car, Hijaze was ordered to stand in front of an Israeli flag and raise her handcuffed hands for a picture while she was still blindfolded — another tactic police began employing in the past year with Arabs suspected of supporting acts of terror. Photos of Hijaze were then passed along to Ben Gvir and released to the public.

Hijaze said throughout her detention officers yelled at and mocked her, ordering her to dance while she was still handcuffed. When she asked to go to the bathroom, one of the officers told her to go in her pants.

Channel 12 reported that Hijaze is planning to file a wrongful arrest suit against police and a libel suit against Ben Gvir, who called her a terror supporter.

The network said legal experts expect her to win both cases.

Police have said Hijaze was arrested on suspicion of “conduct disturbing public order.” She was released late Wednesday night as criticism over the authorities’ conduct mounted. The investigation is ongoing.

Ben Gvir slammed Channel 12 Thursday, writing in a post on X that the network was trying to “brainwash” viewers and that the interview was conducted by an “obsessive journalist.”

Hijaze is “presented as a poor victim who received a punishment that struck her like lightning on a clear day,” Ben Gvir wrote.

In the TikTok post in question, Hijaze — who works in introducing children in classrooms to animals — is seen dancing to the song “Betty Boop” by Charlie Puth in a school in Nazareth. The clip includes the lyrics “good time,” and the words “On This Day – 7/10/23” appear at the bottom of the video.

But reporters and online observers noted that the musical clip is a popular one among TikTok dance trends and that many posts on the social media platform use the “On this day” label as part of their videos.

The Fake Reporter investigative organization found that Hijaze’s social media accounts had no history of political or nationalistic activism and that she had previously posted videos expressing sorrow over the war and the deaths of Israelis.

Most of Hijaze’s TikTok feed, under the username PinkIguana6, is videos of her introducing animals to classrooms of children, as well as similar dance videos and TikTok trends and filters.

The State Attorney’s Office said in response to the incident that “under the circumstances of the incident as they have been reported, it is not clear why the police decided to handcuff the suspect and blindfold her.” It also noted that the police did not make any request to investigate Hijaze for incitement.

State Attorney Amit Aisman recently accused police of circumventing their obligation to obtain permission from his office for investigations into incitement by arresting people on the lesser charge of “disturbing public order.”

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