\n
\u2018It is a time of witch hunts in Israel\u2019: teacher held in solitary confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths<\/strong><\/em> By Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem<\/strong><\/em> The evidence compiled by police who handcuffed him, then drove to his apartment and ransacked it as he watched, was a series of Facebook posts he\u2019d made, mourning the civilians killed in Gaza, criticising the Israeli military, and warning against wars of revenge.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cHorrific images are pouring in from Gaza. Entire families were wiped out. I don\u2019t usually upload pictures like this, but look what we do in revenge,\u201d said a message on 8 October, below a picture of the family of Abu Daqqa, killed in one of the first airstrikes on Gaza. \u201cAnyone who thinks this is justified because of what happened yesterday, should unfriend themselves. I ask everyone else to do everything possible to stop this madness. Stop it now. Not later, Now!!!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n It was the day after Hamas\u2019s attack on Israel, He knew his views about the Israeli military were controversial; similar criticism at a less volatile time had cost him a teaching post in the city of Rishon LeZion, near Tel Aviv, three years earlier. He also thought expressing them was vitally important as the country decided how to respond.<\/strong><\/p>\n I became a \u2018Hamas supporter\u2019, because I expressed my opposition to targeting innocent civilians<\/strong> Ten days after that Facebook message, he was fired from his teaching job in Petach Tikvah municipality. Less than a month later he was in a high-security jail, detained to give police more time to investigate critical views he had never tried to hide.<\/strong><\/p>\n Inside Israel, veteran journalists, intellectuals and rights activists say, there is little public space for dissent about the war in Gaza, even three months into an offensive that has killed 23,000 Palestinians and has no end in sight. \u201cMake no mistake: Baruchin was used as a political tool to send a political message. The motive for his arrest was deterrence \u2013 silencing any criticism or any hint of protest against Israeli policy,\u201d the long-established Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial.<\/strong><\/p>\n He is not the only teacher to be targeted. Authorities also summoned Yael Ayalon, head of a Tel Aviv high school, after she shared a Haaretz article warning that Israeli media was hiding the suffering of Gaza\u2019s civilians. \u201cIsraeli citizens need to be aware of this reality,\u201d the piece said.<\/strong><\/p>\n Israeli soldiers <\/strong> Baruchin also had a hearing at an educational tribunal case this month. Under Israeli employment law, municipal authorities have no right to fire a teacher whose performance has always been excellent, he says and free speech laws protected his right to post about the war.<\/strong><\/p>\n But he is living on savings while he waits for the verdict and even if he wins the treason charges have not been dropped: he could live in their shadow for five years, the limit for the police to prosecute.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThis story is much bigger than my personal story, or Yael\u2019s personal story. It is a time of witch hunts in Israel, of political persecution,\u201d he said. \u201cI became a \u2018Hamas supporter\u2019, because I expressed my opposition to targeting innocent civilians.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n He said he\u2019d received hundreds of private messages of support from fellow teachers and students who were too frightened to go public, and showed several to the Observer.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe message is crystal clear: keep silent, watch out,\u201d he says, adding that they strengthened his own conviction about speaking out. \u201cI thought to myself, when I retire, I might conclude this is the most significant lesson I ever gave in civics.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n There were cold-water showers, a tiny piece of soap, two blankets stinking from cigarette smoke and a tiny towel<\/strong> Hundreds have been arrested and jailed, or lost jobs or access to education because of social media posts. The judge who put Baruchin in prison drew an explicit comparison. \u201cHad an Arab resident made the post, the danger would have been clear. I do not believe that there is room for differentiating between an Arab post and a Jewish post.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n The country\u2019s differing free-speech standards for Jewish and Palestinian citizens was cited by a group of prominent Israelis in a letter warning that incitement to genocide had been normalised in the country.<\/strong><\/p>\n Baruchin was initially told to come to a police station for questioning over charges of sedition. When he pointed out to police that they needed a warrant from the attorney general to charge an Israeli citizen with that offence, treason charges were duly drawn up.<\/strong><\/p>\n When he arrived at the police station, his arms and ankles were cuffed, and he was shown a warrant to search his home. Five detectives escorted him there, turned his apartment upside down and eventually confiscated two laptops and six hard drives. The police then asked for more time to investigate, and a judge ordered that he be detained.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t allowed to take anything with me to the cell,\u201d he says. \u201cI walked in with my clothes on and stayed with the same clothes for four days. There were cold-water showers, a tiny piece of soap, two blankets stinking from cigarette smoke and a tiny towel.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cI was not allowed a book, TV or anything. The wardens were not allowed to talk to me and there were no windows, so I didn\u2019t know daytime from night-time. My watch was taken away.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cIn order not to go crazy I exercised every one and a half to two hours. Every time the warden came to check I asked what time it was, to calculate how much is left.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n He was interrogated again before a second judge ordered his release. Questioners told him his posts were like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, among the most famously antisemitic documents in the world. \u201cI\u2019m a history teacher, so I asked, \u2018Did you ever read them?\u2019 They didn\u2019t respond.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n When his name is clear, Baruchin plans to sue Israeli media who reported police charges without asking for his response or looking for evidence, and accused him of justifying and legitimising Hamas.<\/strong><\/p>\n He says he has not been traumatised by the experience, as for him the fate of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages in Gaza is much more disturbing. He still follows what is happening there closely, and flicks on his phone through images of the recent dead, a journalist, a violinist, a baby.<\/strong><\/p>\n His latest post before the Observer interview was an image of an improvised grave marker, that looks like part of a broken piece of furniture. \u201cUnknown martyr, green jacket and trainers,\u201d the inscription reads.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe whole story in one picture,\u201d he says. \u201cThe Israeli mainstream media don\u2019t broadcast this picture. They don\u2019t get this picture, and don\u2019t want to get this picture.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/jan\/13\/it-is-a-time-of-witch-hunts-in-israel-teacher-held-in-solitary-confinement-for-posting-concern-about-gaza-deaths<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u2018It is a time of witch hunts in Israel\u2019: teacher held in solitary confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths Meir Baruchin, who was fired and jailed for criticising the military, says that many who agree with him are afraid to go public By Emma Graham-Harrison and Quique Kierszenbaum in Jerusalem Sat 13 Jan 2024 …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3709,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3708","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3708"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3708\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3709"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nMeir Baruchin, who was fired and jailed for criticising the military, says that many who agree with him are afraid to go public<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n
\nSat 13 Jan 2024 . Published in The Guardian.<\/strong><\/em>
\nAn unlikely charge of intent to commit treason landed Meir Baruchin, a grey-haired, softly spoken history and civics teacher, in the solitary confinement wing of Jerusalem\u2019s notorious \u201cRussian Compound\u201d prison in early November.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeir Baruchin<\/strong>
\n\u201cMost Israelis don\u2019t know much about Palestinians. They think they are terrorists, all of them, or vague images with no names, no faces, no family, no homes, no hopes,\u201d Baruchin said. \u201cWhat I am trying to do in my posts is present Palestinians as human beings.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeir Baruchin believes expressing his views about the Israeli military was vitally important. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg\/AP<\/strong>
\nHer students rioted in the school after news of the post spread; she took her employers to a tribunal and was reinstated, but when she returned to school she was attacked again by students chanting \u201cgo home\u201d. She declined to speak to the Observer.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMeir Baruchin<\/strong>
\nBaruchin believes he is the only Jewish Israeli to have been detained for denouncing civilian deaths in Gaza, but this would not be unusual if he was a Palestinian citizen of Israel.<\/strong><\/p>\n