Former MK Hanin Zoabi Arrested Over Alleged Terror Incitement During Speech
Former Knesset member Hanin Zoabi was arrested at her home in Nazareth on Sunday for allegedly belonging to a terror group and inciting terrorism in a speech last year in which she seemed to justify the Hamas assault of October 7, 2023.
Authorities said the arrest was carried out with the necessary approvals, noting that evidence indicated she had “publicly identified with a terror group and incited to terror.” Police declared they would act firmly against anyone who praises or legitimizes attacks during wartime, whether online or at public events.
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Zoabi, 59, served as an MK with the nationalist Balad party for a decade and developed a reputation for combative rhetoric. She previously sailed aboard the Mavi Marmara in 2010 during an attempt to breach Israel’s Gaza blockade, an episode that left nine Turkish activists dead in clashes with Israeli commandos. She was later suspended from parliamentary activity and faced repeated efforts to bar her from reelection.
Her latest arrest stems from comments at the Palestina Kongress in Vienna last October, where she argued that Palestinians “cannot differentiate between Hamas and the Palestinian people” and claimed that the October 7 attackers “didn’t enter Israeli borders, they entered their own land.” She described Hamas’s actions as resistance to what she called “genocide” and urged Europeans to shift away from supporting Israel because of the Holocaust.
The detention drew sharp criticism from Arab political factions. Balad denounced it as “a message of intimidation” against Arab citizens, while Hadash labeled it “a cover for political prosecutions.” The High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel called it “political terrorism led by the settler government.” Zoabi’s attorney, Hassan Jabarin, questioned the legality of the police raid, saying she should have been summoned for questioning instead.
Zoabi retired from politics in 2019 and was later convicted of forgery and fraud connected to Balad’s finances. Despite stepping back from public life, she has remained a divisive figure in Israeli society, with Sunday’s arrest reigniting longstanding controversy around her political activism.
