Police probe far-left Haredi journalist who cheered IDF soldiers’ deaths in Gaza

Police opened a criminal investigation on Tuesday into far-left Haredi journalist Israel Frey, who posted that the “world is a better place” following the deaths of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza.

“The world is a better place this morning, without five young men who partook in one of the most brutal crimes against humanity,” Frey tweeted earlier that morning, referring to the soldiers killed on Monday night by Hamas-detonated roadside bombs in Beit Hanoun. Four of five slain troops served in the ultra-Orthodox Netzah Yehuda Battalion.

“Unfortunately, for the boy in Gaza now being operated on without anesthesia, the girl starving to death, and the family huddling in a tent under bombardment — this is not enough,” he continued. “This is a call to every Israeli mother: Do not be the next to receive your son in a coffin as a war criminal. Refuse.”

Frey’s post sparked a social media firestorm, prompting scathing criticism from his political opponents, but also from other left-wingers stridently opposed to the war, who chided him for rejoicing over spilled blood.

Later that afternoon, police requested the State Attorney’s Office give law enforcement the go-ahead to probe Frey on incitement offenses.

The request was granted, kickstarting a joint probe by an anti-incitement task force in the National Security Ministry and the Israel Police’s Investigations and Intelligence Division.

“We will continue to act in accordance with the policy of [National Security] Minister Itamar Ben Gvir and Police Commissioner Danny Levy, and take a firm and uncompromising approach against anyone who gives voice to incitement or support for the enemy,” said the police and National Security Ministry in a joint statement on Tuesday afternoon.

Lawmakers in Ben Gvir’s far-right Otzma Yehudit party are trying to pass a bill that would allow police to probe speech offenses without a green light from the state attorney. Police are, nevertheless, still required to obtain the body’s approval to probe such violations.

Frey, a staunch leftist who holds fast to his ultra-Orthodox upbringing, has urged Israelis to refuse military service and frequents the anti-government, pro-hostage deal protests that take place weekly on Tel Aviv’s Begin Road outside the Kirya military base.

Tuesday’s questioning was not Frey’s first run-in with police. The iconoclast journalist was detained and questioned by police in March on allegations of incitement to terrorism after he praised attacks on IDF soldiers and West Bank settlers.

Officers interrogated Frey in particular regarding his post claiming that Palestinian attacks on IDF soldiers and West Bank settlers do not constitute terrorism.

He was also questioned in December 2022 after he made similar remarks praising a West Bank Palestinian who had stabbed a soldier in Tel Aviv. He said the posts led to his sacking from the anti-Netanyahu outlet Democrat TV in November of that year.

Frey has been an outspoken critic of the war in Gaza since its outset. He came under fire from right-wing activists just days into the fighting after recording a video of himself reciting Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer, for Gazans killed in Israel’s counteroffensive to Hamas’s October 7 attack.

The video triggered fiery demonstrations outside his home in Bnei Brak on October 15, 2023, by protesters who reportedly tried to break into the building. Police officers arrived late that night to escort him and his children from the scene.