Arab citizen placed under five days house arrest for Facebook post against recruitment of Christian Arabs into the Israeli army

On 28 April 2014, Adalah filed an appeal to the Nazareth Magistrates’ Court against the police imposed conditions of house arrest of Mr. Ghassan Munair, a Palestinian Arab citizen of Israel, resident of Lydd/Lod. Mr. Munair is prohibited from leaving his home following a Facebook post in which he expressed his opposition to Israel’s recruitment of Christian Arab citizens to the Israeli army.

The police summoned Munair to the Lod police station on 25 April 2014 and interrogated him about a photo that he posted of Father Gabriel Nadaf, who has gained public attention for his support of Israel's recruitment of Christian Arab citizens. The photo shows Father Nadaf, in a meeting with Finance Minister Yair Lapid and others on 23 April 2014. Mr. Munair added a caption to the photo, stating "For the sake of freedom of speech and transparency, the faces and names of the ‘honorable’ that appear in the following photos are the ones who want to enlist your sons against your people – keep this in mind."

The police focused their interrogation of Mr. Munair on his opinions regarding the issue of recruiting Arab citizens to the army. During the interrogation, the investigator informed Munair that the police had decided to arrest him on charges of incitement, but he would be freed if he agreed to five days’ house arrest and to surrender his personal iPad, laptop, and mobile phone to the police. Munair denies that he intended to threaten against anyone with this Facebook post.

On behalf of Mr. Munair, Adalah appealed to the court to challenge the necessity of house arrest in this case. Adalah Attorney Fady Khoury argued in the appeal: "The decision to arrest Munair was illegal from the start, and therefore the decision to release him under constrained conditions does not have any legal basis."

Attorney Khoury further argued: "The Facebook post that Munair was arrested and interrogated for is nothing but an expression of a personal opinion against the activities of the people he posted about. The initiative to recruit Christian Arabs is a complex and controversial debate on many platforms, including Facebook." Khoury added that, "Opposing the ideas and agendas of the Christian Recruitment Forum is legitimate, even if it is disliked by the authorities. It is impossible for the Christian recruitment officials, including Father Nadaf, to be immune from criticism."

Update: The court scheduled a hearing one hour before the house arrest was to end, leaving no time to challenge the arrest; Ghassan Munair completed the conditions of his release.

Read more:

See Edo Konrad, “Palestinian activist given house arrest for a Facebook status”, +972 Magazine, 29 April 2014

See Jack Khoury, “Israeli Arab activist under house arrest for Facebook post”, Haaretz, 1 May 2014