A resident of the north has been in detention for about a month, after being accused of writing graffiti, including "Death to Arabs." In recent days, the court extended his detention for at least another month, pending the submission of a probation report in his case.
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According to the indictment, more than a month ago, a protest rally was held at Safed Academic College against the construction of student dormitories expected to house students from Arab society, attended by about 1,500 people. The defendant arrived at Lohamei HaGeta'ot Street in the city armed with red paint spray, with which he spray-painted on a wall the inscription: "7.10 We will not forget."
"Motivated by racism and hostility"
Later he went to the same street again, and once again wrote with the spray, following the inscription he had spray-painted earlier, the words "Death to the Arabs." He then spray-painted another building on the same street, reading "Death to Arabs."
The indictment states: "The defendant did all this with the aim of inciting racism, in circumstances that create a real possibility that the publication will lead to an act of violence, and out of a motive of racism and hostility towards the Arab public in Israel."
The indictment further states that at the time of his arrest, the defendant cursed at the policemen.
Offensive graffiti in Jerusalem (archive), photo: David Vaknin
The state requested that the defendant's detention be extended until the end of the proceedings, noting in its request that the defendant was well aware of the content and context of the statements. The state argued that the severity of these statements is magnified by the state of emergency currently in the country, and especially in light of the fact that a demonstration was held in Safed against the population of Arab students.
On the other hand, attorney Yossi Amar, who represented the defendant on behalf of the Public Defender's Office, argued that the possibility of releasing his client for an alternative to detention could be examined. According to him, he cooperated at the very beginning of the investigation, expressed deep remorse and offered to delete the graffiti he spray-painted - thus blunting the grounds for dangerousness.
The lawyer believes that the spraying does not incite harm to the population for which it is intended, and that the caption was made against the background of the events of October 7 and the mental state of the perpetrator, who, according to him, did not intend to cause incitement to violence or racism.
There is prima facie evidence
The lawyer also claimed that in another case, in Maysa Abdelhadi's request for remand until the end of the proceedings, which concerns an indictment on charges of incitement to acts of terrorism and support after she posted inciting statements, according to him, on social networks, she was released as an alternative to detention.
Hate graffiti spray-painted on the wall of the bilingual school in Jerusalem's Katamon neighborhood (archive), photo: None
Judge Rim Branza did not accept the request of the defendant's attorney, but sent the defendant for a probation report and emphasized that prima facie evidence of the acts existed, and that the supervisors proposed to keep the defendant under house arrest are not authority figures who set limits on him.
"I considered the need for an alternative that would negate the danger posed by it, especially in light of the great ease with which these offenses can be committed.
"This is definitely the place to note that we are currently in the midst of a war and the area is 'burning,' and therefore the examination must be thorough and meticulous. The alternative must be such that it negates the danger posed by the respondent, in a way that allows him to be released to that alternative," the judge wrote in her decision.
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