Court again extends detention of anti-government activist accused of inciting against PM

The Haifa Magistrate’s Court extends the detention of anti-government activist Yolanda Yavor by another two days, after she was arrested for social media posts allegedly inciting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other figures.

Yesterday, police detectives in the Coastal District searched the Tel Aviv University professor’s apartment in Or Akiva, where they were said to have found evidence indicating she is liable to obstruct the investigation if released.

Yavor was arrested following a complaint from the right-wing Im Tirzu organization over a post she published on Facebook last week in which she derided the premier as a “traitor.”

“The only choice is to be — that is, to fight the traitor, the mouthpieces, the damned collaborators and his bargain-bin Freikorps militias with all the strength and all means — or not to be,” she wrote. “Make the right choice, my brothers and sisters… There won’t be another round.”

She added in a hashtag, “You don’t depose a dictatorship at the ballot box.”

Yavor’s lawyer, Oshrat Kirma, argues that her client committed no offense and was exercising her right to free speech. Judge Boris Sherman rejects the argument, saying that “freedom of expression is not the freedom to commit offenses.”

He adds that “Israel has learned from experience where calls for violent behavior can lead,” Walla reports. Yavor is due for another remand hearing on Wednesday.