Adalah to represent MK Haneen Zoabi

MK Zoabi: "There is no legal basis for any indictment against me."

On 19 August 2014, the Israeli police recommended that the Israeli Attorney General submit an indictment against MK Haneen Zoabi on charges of incitement to violence, threat and insulting a public employee.  According to the Israeli media, MK Zoabi is suspected of raging against Arab policemen calling them "collaborators" and saying that "those who collaborate with the oppressor against their people" should be used "to wipe the floor" and that people should "spit in their face". 

Adalah Attorney and General Director Hassan Jabareen, who is representing MK Zoabi, stated that, "The police have no legal basis for their recommendation. The investigation against MK Zoabi is mainly focused on charges of insulting a public employee. MK Zoabi has stated in the investigation that her reaction came as a quick, instantaneous, angry response towards the Israeli police's practices against detained children in Nazareth, who were demonstrating against the cold-blooded killing of Mohammed Abu Khdeir."

Attorney Jabareen continued, "The public prosecutor himself has stated that the police's management and submission of indictments are very problematic; many do not have a legal basis. An important example of this phenomenon of baseless indictments is the recent wave of arrests carried out by Israeli police, in which 1,500 protestors were arbitrarily detained, while dozens of indictments were filed against protestors."

Attorney Jabareen also stated that, "It is not the norm for the police to investigate elected public officials about their political statements, especially those instantaneous and spontaneous statements that materialize from public political activism. Their immunity protects them from this type of action. Therefore, if an indictment is filed against MK Zoabi, then the Attorney General must explain to the court why he did not file indictments in dozens of similar cases and even more dangerous ones. The police must also explain why they did not check the complaints made by MK Zoabi herself against other members of the Knesset and ministers who have incited the public to violence against her without the slightest reservation. The threats against MK Zoabi were so extreme that the Knesset approved the appointment of bodyguards for her at all times."

Attorney Jabareen concluded, "I hope that the Attorney General closes this file and does not join the populist racist environment against Arab citizens and their political