Police accused of censorship after officers raid Standing Together event in Haifa — report

Police officers twice raided a “Standing Together” gathering at the Haifa Congress Center — once late last night and again this morning — in what activists described as an attempt to monitor and censor their political messaging, Haaretz reports.

Attendees assert that officers told them they were present “to make sure their messages were legal.”

According to an activist identified as Nadav, police contacted a commander after spotting a sign reading “Get Out of Gaza,” allegedly instructing organizers to remove it.

“The police decided to act as censors of messages they don’t like,” Nadav tells Haaretz, adding that officers later walked through the event “with weapons and rifles.”

He says police returned this morning and warned organizers they would “cut the microphones and disperse the event” if there was any “provocation,” but declined to define what that meant.

Alon-Lee Green, co-director of Standing Together, accuses authorities of politically motivated intimidation.

“It’s clear to us that they are trying to intimidate our freedom of expression and our very right to organize Jews and Arabs together,” he says, adding that National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir “sends police to censor us and silence us” while failing to address violence in Arab communities.

Police have not yet issued a statement on the incident.