Adalah Condemns Israeli Police’s Abuse of Penal Code for Unlawful Arrests as Tool for Political Persecution
On 22 April 2024, Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, sent a letter urging Israel’s Attorney General and State Attorney to instruct the police to cease unlawful arrests that target Palestinians, using allegations of “conduct liable to disturb the public peace”, under article 216(a)(4) of the Penal Code, as a means of political persecution and suppressing freedom of expression.
Click HERE to read the letter [Hebrew]
Article 216(a)(4) of the Penal Code outlines a criminal offense known as Misconduct in a public place. It states: “(a) If a person did one of the following, then he is liable to six months imprisonment: [...] (4) he conducted himself in a public place in a manner liable to cause a breach of peace”.
In the letter, Adalah Attorney Hadeel Abu Salih argued that the police have been abusing article 216(a)(4) as a ground for arresting Palestinian citizens, targeting them for expressing solidarity with the people of Gaza since 7 October.
The letter highlighted a long-standing precedent for applying this article, which police authorities have frequently violated in recent months. Adalah cited a Supreme Court ruling from an earlier case, underscoring that arrests must be based on concrete facts and past experience. The court emphasized that mere speculation about potential breaches of public peace does not justify an arrest. The letter documented several instances of individuals being arrested without concrete evidence of a threat to public security, in contradiction of this legal principle.
One of the cases detailed in the letter is a police raid on the home and subsequent arrest of Yoav Bar, a 68-year-old resident of Haifa and a longstanding activist for Palestinians’ rights, which occurred on 29 October. The police spokesperson issued a public press release stating that they had arrested a “key activist in protests supporting and expressing solidarity with Hamas”. The next day, Mr. Bar was brought before the Haifa Magistrates’ Court, at the request of the police, who sought to extend his detention over an alleged offense under Section 216(a)(4). As Adalah argued, his arrest was unlawful. Mr. Bar was arrested at his home, which is not considered a “public space”, and the only ground for his arrest cited by the police was posters they did not approve of. The Haifa Magistrates’ Court concurred with Adalah’s arguments and ordered Bar's unconditional release.
Another case concerns a Palestinian journalist and activist who was arrested in January 2024 after posting a story to his private Instagram account. The police accused him of disturbing public peace and conspiring to commit an offense, claiming that his posts expressed support for Hamas. At a hearing in the Haifa Magistrate's Court, the police requested a 7-day extension of his detention. During the hearing, the state’s representative explained that the suspect had not been interrogated for incitement to terrorism because the police had not yet obtained the necessary approval from the State Attorney's Office, which is required under Israeli law for such charges. The journalist spent 5 days in detention and was then released under conditions that included 5 days of house arrest along with additional conditions.
As Adalah argued in the letter, the police used Section 216(a)(4) of the Penal Code to justify a "temporary detention" as a tactic to buy time to obtain the required approvals for an investigation into incitement to terrorism. Adalah claimed that this tactic represents an unlawful abuse of criminal law and procedures, noting that it has been used in various cases to circumvent proper legal processes.
