From the Liveblog of
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Balad party accuses police of trying to intimidate Arabs by detaining former lawmaker
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The Palestinian nationalist Balad party issues a statement condemning the detention of its former lawmaker Hanin Zoabi, after police took her in for interrogation this morning on suspicion of membership in a terror group and incitement to terror.
The party says that the detention is a “message of intimidation” targeting not only Zoabi but “all of our populace and national forces who insist on rejecting war crimes and Israelization.”
They label police claims of incitement to terrorism a pretext to crack down on “national-political activity.”
“This is a political move par excellence, that fits into the context of the systematic persecution of national-political activity and the blatant attack on freedom of expression and political organizing among the Arab populace,” the party statement reads.
She was detained from her home in Nazareth regarding comments she made to an anti-Israel conference abroad several months ago, police say. In a video from a speech to a Vienna conference in October 2024, Zoabi makes comments that seem to indicate support for Hamas and the terror group’s October 7 attack.
Zoabi, who served as a Balad MK from 2009 to 2019, including when the party was part of the Joint List confederation, is known for her outspoken criticism of Israel.
The Times of Israel Community.