Arab Israeli sports announcer charged over interview with Hamas TV, praise for terror groups

An Arab Israeli journalist and sports announcer is indicted on charges of having contact with foreign agents and identifying with a terrorist organization following an interview he did with a Hamas-run television channel.

The indictment filed by the State Attorney’s Office at the Haifa District Court against Said Hassanin, 62, from Shfaram, describes him as a “well-known and influential figure” in the Arab community, who alongside his work as a stadium announcer for the Bnei Sakhnin soccer team also works as a journalist and radio broadcaster.

On February 22, Hassanin was interviewed by Hamas’s Al Aqsa television station, which was blacklisted as a terrorist entity in 2019 under the terms of the Law for Combating Terrorism.

Hassanin described the Hamas terror organization as “the Islamic resistance” and said that Hamas had treated the hostages it seized in its October 7, 2023, massacre “in a totally humane manner, in accordance with Islamic law, and proved to the entire world that the Islamic resistance, Hamas, protects human dignity and the dignity of women taken captive by the Hamas movement on October 7.”

In a separate interview with the Qudsna Palestinian television channel, Hassanin expressed praise for the slain leader of the Hezbollah terror organization, Hassan Nasrallah, who was assassinated by Israel, saying that “it would not have been honorable for Hassan Nasrallah to die other than in this manner, he wanted to die as a martyr and he did die as a martyr.”

Having contact with a foreign agent is punishable by up to 15 years in prison, while expressing identification with a terror organization is punishable by up to three years in prison.