Haifa court convicts two Arab community leaders over protest chants during Gaza war

The Haifa Magistrate’s Court has convicted two Arab community leaders of “indirect” incitement to terrorism and identification with a terrorist group over chants they led during a protest against the Gaza war.

Ahmad Khalifa and Mohammad Taher Jabareen were both arrested alongside other protesters during the demonstration, which took place in Umm al-Fahm during the first month of the fighting.

The two men were indicted on several terror-related speech offenses. They were charged, but not convicted, of direct incitement to terrorism.

Adalah, a legal advocacy group for Arab citizens of Israel, says the decision is an “unprecedented prosecution of protected speech” meant to criminalize “legitimate political protest” by the minority.

The organization, representing the pair, says none of the chants led by their clients included calls to violence or references to terror groups.

The charges are based on “traditional, well-established political chants voiced during the demonstration, rather than on any concrete act,” the group says.

These include chants such as, “In spirit and blood we redeem you, O Gaza.”

The court deemed the combination of the chants shortly after the Hamas-led October 7 massacre constituted indirect incitement.

The maximum sentence for this offense is five years imprisonment, while the maximum sentence for identification with a terrorist organization is three years imprisonment.

Adalah, contending with the ruling, notes the protest was held in a specific context, in the wake of a devastating strike on Al-Ahli Arab Hospital early into the war.