Adalah to AG: Launch Urgent Criminal Investigation against those Responsible for Publishing Racist Notices Calling for Expulsion of Arab Residents from Akka (Acre)
On 15 October 2008, Adalah sent an urgent letter to Attorney General (AG) Menachem Mazuz, demanding that a criminal investigation be opened with regard to the initiators and distributors of racist posters and internet on-line notices that widely incite to racism against Arab citizens of Israel in general, and against the Arab residents in Akka in particular. The letter was sent by Adalah Attorney Abeer Baker on behalf of the "Akka Residents Coalition”, a group of non-profit organizations, institutes, political activists and public figures. The letter follows a week of violent riots by Jewish residents of Akka against Arab residents of Akka, which began on the eve of Yom Kippur, 8 October 2008.
In the letter, Adalah argued that following these events in Akka, notices were published on the Internet and distributed in Jewish neighborhoods in the city that included the following statement: “The Jew is the son of an angel and the Arab is the son of a dog.” It was also stated that Arabs must leave the city and search for somewhere to live in the villages, and encouraged Jews to boycott Arab stores, and not to respect any Arab religious festival, memorial event or landmark. The internet sites in question also published, without any form of monitoring, thousands of racist feedback comments on these notices.
Attorney Baker emphasized that this extremist racist incitement against Palestinian Arab citizens of Israel is indicative of hatred, hostility and contempt purely on the basis of their ethnic and national belonging. Additionally, the call to expel Arabs from Akka is tantamount to incitement to violence against Arabs and makes the current situation even more dangerous, particularly given that it was issued a very short time after incidents of brutal violence by Jewish residents against Arab residents of Akka, serious damage to their property, and their being prevented from returning to their homes.
Adalah stressed that the statements contained in the notices and flyers that were distributed in Akka and on the Internet do not enjoy legal or constitutional protection for freedom of expression or of opinion given that the Arab minority in Akka is being systematically persecuted by a Jewish majority that is threatening their safety, bodily integrity and property. Furthermore, the ease with which this information was able to be published on the Internet and the identities of the publishers were concealed behind assumed names makes the situation all the more precarious. Adalah argued that the people who have adopted these assumed identities cannot be absolved from legal responsibility for their actions. In addition to the incitement to racism and violence, these notices and posters also constitute libel and defamation against Arab citizens, which also necessitates that criminal files be opened against those behind them.
Adalah therefore demanded that the identities of the owners of the Internet sites and those responsible for publishing these statements be investigated, exposed, and prosecuted, and that these sites be closed immediately.
