'Political arrest' of Palestinian academic in Israel marks new civil liberties threat

Source: The Guardian (London)

(Subheader) University and colleagues condemn detention of law professor, the first time an academic has been held over speech related to work

The arrest and interrogation of a leading Palestinian legal scholar based at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem marks a new threat to civil liberties in Israel, her legal team and employer have said.

Prof Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian was detained by police on the afternoon of 17 April over comments made on a podcast more than a month earlier and held overnight in conditions her lawyers described as “terrible” and designed to humiliate.

“This case is unique,” said Hassan Jabareen, her lawyer and the director of the human rights organisation Adalah. “This is not only about one professor, it could be a [precedent] for any academic who goes against the consensus in wartime.”

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/26/political-arrest-palestinian-academic-nadera-shalhoub-kevorkian-israel-civil-liberties-threat

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Folks often forget that about 20% of Israel's citizens, folks who live within the 1948 borders (i.e., excluding Gaza and the West Bank), are classified as "Arab." That category includes a variety of religions (or lack thereof) and ethnicities (for some reason Armenians and Circassians fall into the category, but "race" is always arbitrary). Part of the underlying support for Netanyahu's politics in Israeli society is a "fear" of their birthrate, which should echo loudly, as that's part of what underlies support for the GOP in the U.S.

Also, strip-searching a 60-something academic is never a good look.