The haredi journalist urging Palestinians to fight back

With the return of far-right politician and convicted terrorism supporter Itamar Ben-Gvir to his post as National Security Minister last month, Israel’s police appeared to expand their range of repression beyond Arab citizens to left-wing Jews.

The night after the return of Ben Gvir was announced, I watched police assault, punch and drag peaceful demonstrators during a sit-in on Ben Yehuda Street in downtown West Jerusalem that did not block or disrupt anything.

The protesters had chanted: “soldier, soldier you must refuse” and “The government of blood is killing us.”  Right-wingers who taunted them were left untouched and praised the police for roughing up the protesters.

In subsequent days, Yair Golan, the former army deputy chief of staff and leader of the Zionist left-wing Democrats party, was manhandled by police at a protest. In a separate incident Naama Lazimi, a member of the same party, was violently pulled by officers during a demonstration outside the Knesset.

This week, Haaretz reported that police were violating a court order by banning an antiwar protest from displaying pictures of Gaza children killed in Israel’s devastating airstrikes. Since the start of the war after Hamas’s brutal attack on October 7, 2023, Arab antiwar protests have been banned or broken up.

Within this escalation, it is risky to be at the forefront of the battle over freedom of expression. But Yisrael Frey, a left-wing haredi journalist, feels compelled to speak out on flashpoint issues even if it means paying a high price. “They won’t succeed in making me lower my head,” he told The Jewish Independent in an interview.

Frey was referring to a police investigation currently underway against him on suspicion of “incitement to terrorism”, a rare speech crackdown against a Jewish individual that could set a precedent (theatres, cinemas and cultural works have been demonised and targeted for funding cuts).