Perspective: The Silencing of Palestinians in Jerusalem Today Is More Obvious but Hardly New

Israel’s “civil emergency,” declared on October 7, 2023, turbocharged the state’s already existing laws that silence the political expression of Palestinian Jerusalemites.1 

As described in a previous Jerusalem Story article, since October 7, Israel has been  taking extraordinary measures to punish expressions of sympathy for Palestinians in Gaza, who have been undergoing massive Israeli bombardment. Israel has given authority to the police and military forces to arrest, deport, and seize the property of Palestinians in Israel and in Jerusalem who criticize the state, on the premise that they may harm “national morale” during the war on Gaza.2 They can be intimidated, harassed, detained, and prosecuted for expressing their views online. Even a mere “like” on social media platforms for content by entities related to Hamas or ISIL could get one in serious trouble.

“The police stopped me three times these past two weeks on my way back from school and demanded to see my phone,” shared Gino [a pseudonym], a 17-year-old Palestinian Jerusalemite, on October 27, 2023.3 “I told them I don’t have a phone, but they demanded that I raise my hands and proceeded to search my pockets.” Gino’s mother said she doesn’t let her son carry his phone outdoors anymore, knowing that the police may search it at any moment. “He doesn’t post anything on social media,” she stressed.4 “But we have become really paranoid due to their extensive inspections.”

Although the subject of Israeli censorship has been at the center of public attention lately, it is in no way new for Palestinians in Jerusalem. Jerusalemites know this is broader and more long-standing than a strategy triggered by the events of October 7.

Today, the Israeli state and all communication therein has seemingly been focused against Hamas in particular: Immediately after the Hamas al-Aqsa Flood operation on October 7, 2023, a “Special State of Emergency” went into effect that allows authorities to punish individuals who express sympathy with or support of Hamas in areas under Israeli control, such as Jerusalem. In Gaza, of course, Palestinians (regardless of affiliation, ethnic or religious background, age, color, race, sexual identity, health condition, political position, or any general viewpoints or ideology) are being brutally collectively punished.

It is clear to anyone who follows the news that the war on Gaza has seriously degraded, if not extinguished, media freedom. As of November 22, at least 46 Palestinian journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 7, and the numbers increase almost daily.5 International networks such as Al Jazeera have been threatened by Israel with closure. In Jerusalem, Palestinian reporters have been systematically summoned for interrogation and held at gunpoint by the Israeli police.6 Western media have overwhelmingly adopted the Israeli narrative; for example, by describing the October 7 events as having been “unprovoked.”7

On November 3, 2023, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu promised a merciless war on Hamas. All governmental decisions were designed to punish anything and anyone who had any connection to this entity. This calls to mind another move by Netanyahu taken in 1999. Netanyahu was in his first term as prime minister, and he pledged to close down the Orient House, which had served as the headquarters of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). This was noteworthy because Israel had already recognized the PLO as “the representative of the Palestinian people (in September 1993),” and the PLO had recognized the State of Israel. Ignoring the international community’s warning, the Israeli police laid siege to the Orient House and shut it down entirely in 2001.13 Netanyahu was taking aim at an institution that represented Palestinian national aspirations and making it clear that such aspirations had to be extinguished.

Israel continues to ban Palestinian political activities in Jerusalem. Any hint of support of an activity by the Palestinian Authority results in its being shut down.14 Even carrying a small Palestinian flag could lead to arrest.

Long before the war on Gaza, and before the “threat of Hamas,” Israeli authorities approved legislation to impose government control and censorship over Palestinian life and thought. One of the ways they did this was through targeting the educational system. The aim was to “wipe out their [Palestinian] national identity and remove their national affiliation and political stances from the education sphere.”15