Police raid left-wing event in Haifa, tell activists to remove sign urging Gaza pullout

Haifa police raided an event organized by the left-wing Standing Together movement Thursday night and then again Friday morning, ordering activists to take down a sign urging Israel to withdraw from Gaza, participants said.

Standing Together director Alon-Lee Green told The Times of Israel that police had come to the event, the Jewish-Arab movement’s annual assembly at a convention center in the city, to vet political messaging on signs.

“They first said that they came to ensure that all was well, but then began to explain that they came to check what the [political] messages were, in their view, in accordance with the law,” Green said.

After meandering around the venue, officers told a group of participants to remove a sign displaying the slogan “Getting out of Gaza,” calling on the IDF to withdraw from the territory. After activists pushed back, the officers said that they were acting on orders from their commander.

As speeches were underway in the main event hall, several other officers armed with rifles entered the area and walked up close to the stage. They left after several minutes.

Police returned Friday morning for the second day of the event. Green said officers told organizers that they’d come to listen to the speeches delivered onstage, and threatened to “cut the microphones and shut down the event” if they heard any “provocation.”

זה מטורף! שוטרים חמושים ברובים נכנסים לאולם של האסיפה הארצית של תנועת עומדים, כשאלפי ערבים ויהודים בפנים, ואומרים לנו שהם כאן – בתוך האולם – כדי לוודא שהמסרים שלנו חוקיים. הם גם החרימו שלטים שלנו שכתוב עליהם "יוצאים מעזה" ואמרו שיש הנחיה של קצין להחליט איזה מסרים מותר לנו להציג pic.twitter.com/LaCWIy74hB

— Alon-Lee Green – ألون-لي جرين – אלון-לי גרין ???? (@AlonLeeGreen) November 27, 2025

“It’s a private venue. It’s insane, they can’t come into an event in a hall that we paid for, that we rented,” Green said, calling the move an intimidation tactic.

Responding to a query from The Times of Israel, police denied confiscating any signs, but did not specify whether officers had ordered participants to remove or hide any messages from view.

The force added that officers’ presence at the event was “for security and maintaining public order, as part of their responsibility to ensure the proper conduct of the event and in accordance with their duty to protect the public.” It added that “the issue of signs will be clarified to the officers.”

It was not the first time that police, specifically in Haifa, had attempted to severely restrict left-wing political messaging during mass gatherings.

In August, Haifa police issued guidelines for the city’s annual pride parade that would ban political information booths as well as flying flags that could “disturb the public peace,” including anti-war signs and hostage posters.

The move was met with indignation from organizers, who petitioned against the regulations to the High Court. The judge presiding over the case harshly criticized police conduct, prompting police chief Danny Levy to launch a probe into the incident. Later, the force came out with a statement claiming that the guidelines were issued by a junior officer “contrary to the policy of the district commander.”