War on Gaza: Growing Palestinian protests in Israel are met with police brutality

Despite months of oppression and aggression, Palestinian citizens of Israel regularly stage protests against Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip, which are met with police brutality.

On Thursday evening, dozens gathered in Haifa, a northern port city with a mixed Jewish-Palestinian population.

Shortly after a protest began, police attacked demonstrators, claiming they were acting illegally. Eight people were violently arrested by police after they were beaten and insulted, according to protesters.

Four people were released that same evening. The others remained in custody.

As police cracked down, protesters ran through the streets of Haifa, chanting that Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza must end and demanding the liberation of Palestinian territories from Israeli occupation. They were pursued by officers and mounted police, who continued to beat them.

About 20 Jewish Israelis staged a counter demonstration across the street, chanting “Death to Arabs” and other insults. None of the counter-protesters were arrested.

“The Israeli intimidation and scaremongering since the beginning of the war is easing,” one protester, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Middle East Eye.

“Over the past seven weeks, especially after the massacres in the tents of Rafah began, we have become more active and broken the barrier of fear and silence. It is impossible to remain silent, the genocide is unbearable. If we continue to increase our activism and take back the streets, we will play an important role in stopping the genocide.”

Police tried to prevent journalists from documenting the violence by chasing them away. At least two journalists were beaten, including a reporter from Haaretz.

“We will not leave the streets until the genocide is over”

– Protester

“They have silenced us since the war began. The witch hunt has been violent and intimidating, there have been arrests for social media posts, not to mention protests,” a protest leader told MEE.

“We can no longer remain silent. We are exploding, which is a normal reaction to the carnage we are witnessing in Gaza. We will not leave the streets until the genocide is over.”

On Monday, more than 200 people took part in a similar protest in Haifa, which was treated in the same way by the authorities. Nine people were arrested, two of whom were women and brought to court with injuries from beatings.

Further protests are planned in various towns and villages in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Palestinian students at several Israeli universities held a one-hour strike in protest on Wednesday.

Dozens of Palestinian students from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem took part in a demonstration that was met with a hostile counter-protester of pro-war students.

Despite Tel Aviv University’s threat to call the police if students protested, another demonstration took place there.

At the Israel Institute of Technology, the Technion in Haifa, dozens of students in black uniforms took part in a silent protest.

Since the October 7 Hamas-led attack, Israeli universities and colleges have continued to suspend and expel students for the slightest expression of sympathy or support for the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip.

It is part of a trend throughout Israeli society in which expressions of solidarity are suppressed or punished as a result of coordinated actions between government agencies, Israeli institutions and far-right groups.

According to the Attorney General’s Office, more than 100 people were arrested in the first two weeks of Israel’s war against Gaza for expressing solidarity with the Palestinians.

The Adalah Legal Center has documented at least 80 arrests for social media posts and 17 more during demonstrations. Many Palestinian citizens of Israel have also been fired from their jobs or demoted for expressing solidarity with civilians in Gaza.

At the beginning of the war, the police had illegally banned protests, even though the police chief did not have the legal authority to issue such an order.

In recent weeks, however, Palestinians in Israel have organized at least one protest rally every day in various towns and villages.