The Haifa Magistrate's Court extended the detention of Hadash party national secretariat member, Ahmed Abbadi, on Friday, ordering that Abbadi remain in detention until at least Tuesday.
Abbadi was arrested on Thursday at the Kalandiya West Bank crossing during a routine inspection after an arrest warrant concerning him had been issued four days earlier with the approval of the State Attorney's Office.
Abbadi is suspected of publishing words of praise, sympathy, or encouragement for an act of terror.
From the hearing, it emerged that no proactive action was taken to summon him for questioning, either by phone, or coming to his residence, until he was stopped at the checkpoint.
Police officers confiscated his mobile phones and computers. From the court hearing, it appears that he provided authorities with the passcode for his mobile phones.
According to materials presented at the hearing, the suspicion against Abbadi is based on nine Facebook posts between 2018 and April 2023. A police spokesperson confirmed that they are old posts, and that the investigation into Abbadi has been ongoing for months.
However, defense attorneys noted that Abbadi is a well known political activist, a member of a party registered in Israel and represented in the Knesset, and argued that his activity was legitimate political protest action.
"In recent months, we are seeing a great deal of confusion between publications that involve legitimate and legal political protest and expressions that could constitute incitement to terror or violence," one of his lawyers said.
"The suspect here does not deny that he is a political activist. He does not detach himself from protest and legitimate activity. He is a member of a party registered in Israel, represented in the Knesset, with a very clear political vision. As well as the fact that this is a normative person with no criminal past," the lawyer added.
However, Judge Keren Margolin-Feldmen disagreed.
"A review of the publications raises real suspicion of the publication of expressions that may encourage acts of terror," she ruled.
"In these circumstances, I believe that the very act of publication raises concern of dangerousness, and to this one must also add the circumstances of his arrest," she added.
Hadash MK denounces arrest of youth wing activist
"The arrest of Ahmed is not an isolated case. This is a systematic persecution against members of the Young Communist League of Israel and against young political activists in general," MK Aida Touma-Sliman (Hadash) said in response to the arrest.
"We will not be silent, we will not be deterred," she added.
"This is another expression of an ongoing policy of silencing and intimidation, which has been intensifying for more than two years, a policy that turns political opinion into grounds for arrest, and enforcement into a tool of repression against any activity opposing the war and the occupation," she affirmed.
Hadash, as a party, issued a response saying that they "condemn the arbitrary arrest of the young man Ahmed Abbadi, a member of the national secretariat of Hadash and a leader in the ranks of the Communist youth."
"Comrade Ahmed Abbadi is subject to intensive persecution, after being arrested three times in the past two years, with the aim of breaking him and our young comrades. Ahmed and his comrades are stronger than this repression and will not change their legitimate positions for justice and against fascism, occupation, and racism," Hadash affirmed.
The party demanded his immediate release.