The police on Thursday arrested Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian, a professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem due to alleged incitement, weeks after she made controversial views on the Hamas terrorist atrocities on Oct. 7 and the Israeli response in the Gaza Strip.
The police arrived at the professor's home due to words of alleged incitement she made in a podcast about a year ago, apparently because of the recent comments she made in which she accused Israel of genocide and cast doubt on the sexual assaults carried out by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Her personal computer and photos of the Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish were taken from her home. She was transferred for further questioning at the police station in Mevasseret Zion.
A lawyer representing the professor said in response that "the arrest of is another chapter in the series of harassment and incitement against her, which included, among other things, numerous death threats and violence against her, being detained at the airport upon her return from a lecture series in England, and the decision by the Hebrew University to temporarily suspend her from teaching, which was later reversed."
Founder of Adalah and General Director of Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority in Israel Dr. Hassan Jabareen, called this a form of intimidation aimed at muzzling critical voices. "It should be examined how such an arrest warrant was issued and who authorized its issuance. It is clear to us that behind the police's policy stands a racist and inciting minister, and the more important question is whether the attorney general approved such an investigation and arrest," they said.
Immediately after the professor's accusations and statements of criticism of the Israeli version of events the head of the police's Investigation and Intelligence Division said there was sufficient evidence to open a criminal investigation against her.
The professor accused Israel of genocide and was subsequently suspended from her job. After she was reinstated, hundreds of students from the Hebrew University protested against the decision and called for her dismissal.
