Israel’s Palestinian citizens face a wave of repression amid Gaza war
Since Hamas’ attack on 7 October, Palestinian citizens of Israel are facing a mounting backlash for expressing solidarity with Gazans and criticising Israel’s brutal assault, which has so far killed over 6,000 people.
Amid an Israeli crackdown on freedom of expression and dissent, Palestinians in Israel have been singled out by police, schools, and employers over social media posts since the war started.
Numerous incidents of reprisal attacks, arrests, job dismissals, and suspensions from universities and schools have been reported.
Palestinian citizens make up around 20 percent of Israel’s population and are the descendants of those who managed to stay in their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled.
Amjad Iraqi, editor at +972 Magazine and policy analyst at the think tank Al-Shabaka, called the campaign of targeted repression in the past couple of weeks a “totalitarian shift” in which Jewish Israeli society is on board with their government in not tolerating any voices expressing “Palestinianness”.