On Thursday, October 30th, an Abnaa’ Elbalad organizer, received a phone call from a hotel in Nazareth informing him that they are obliged to cancel an Abnaa’ El-balad youth camp scheduled to take place in the hotel on Friday and Saturday. The hotel explained they received threats from the Israeli Intelligence Services, the Shin Bet, who described the event as a “security threat.”
Abnaa’ El-balad is a political movement of Palestinians with Israeli citizenship. It calls for a secular democratic state in historic Palestine and boycotts the Israeli Knesset elections. Its members also include Jews with Israeli citizenship.
Abnaa’ Elbalad issued a press release condemning the hotel’s cancelation of the event. It also announced that despite the intimidation, the event will be held nonetheless, at a later time.
Few days ago, Israeli forces raided Salma Cafe in Jaffa. They summoned Jihad Abdallah, a cafe employee and an Abnaa’ Elbalad activist, for interrogation the next day.
Recently, many other activists who are affiliated with Abnaa’ El-balad were detained and/or summoned for interrogation by the Israeli police and Shin Bet.
These latest developments are part of the continuous intimidation and political oppression Palestinians face, including those who hold Israeli IDs. Since the latest assault on Gaza, over 800 Palestinians who are Israeli citizens have been arrested by Israeli police either during protests or from their homes, in an attempt to crackdown on opposition to the assault.
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