Shin Bet using arrests to intimidate Arab citizens, released journalist Abu Shehadeh warns

Journalist Abd Abu Shahada accused authorities of abusing unchecked power and attempting to intimidate Arab citizens and journalists following his release after five days in Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) custody on suspicion of contact with a foreign agent, speaking to 103FM on Monday.

"Last Tuesday, at around 10:30 or 11 p.m., there was a knock on my door," Abu Shahada told 103FM.

"You probably know the feeling as a journalist. Everyone asks themselves, 'When will it happen to me?' With all the madness going on here, I think that given what's been happening in this country in recent years, the insanity and the abuse of unchecked power, a lot of people are asking themselves that question, and they're right to be afraid."

He explained that he opened the door to find Shin Bet officers who presented him with an arrest warrant and a search warrant, and he let them in without resisting.

"Of course, I didn't resist. I said, 'Please, come in, take whatever you want. I'm not resisting.' And a few hours later, you find yourself at the Shin Bet facility in Petah Tikva, being interrogated. Since there is still an ongoing investigation, I'm not allowed to discuss what happened during the interrogation," he said.

Abu Shahada then described his work as a journalist.

"I've been working as a journalist for about seven or eight years," he explained. "I've published hundreds of articles in Arabic, English, and Hebrew. I have a podcast every Thursday, with more than 260 episodes, and I invite people on. I agree with some of them and disagree with others. But everything is within the law. And I focus on Arab citizens. That's my 'thing': trying to explain how our politics works in Arabic."

"I don't do anything in secret. Everything I do is public," Abu Shahada stressed. "And the interview was published on October 26, almost two weeks ago. Nothing was secret. Everything was out in the open. Besides, this is journalistic work. You operate within the law. And everything I did was after consulting senior lawyers."

According to Abu Shahada, he had received an invitation to provide commentary on the elections for Al Jazeera English.

"I received an invitation to come and comment on the elections on Al Jazeera English," he said. "Most of my journalistic work, or a significant part of it, is in English. I received the invitation and checked whether it was legally permitted. I was told, 'As long as you have a visa and everything is legal, there's nothing illegal about it.'"

Shin Bet wanted to 'frighten us', Shahada says

According to published reports, following his release, Abu Shahada said that his arrest was the result of a Shin Bet witch hunt and that the investigation was politically motivated.

"That specific statement, I don't know where people who were speaking on my behalf got it from," he clarified.

"As far as I'm concerned, what happened had two objectives, and I want to say this to both Arab and Jewish listeners. They are afraid, and they want to frighten us. Both as journalists and as Arab citizens, they want us to be afraid," Abu Shahada continued.

"The people who have held power since 2009 and don't want to give it up saw the results of the last elections. They saw that Arab citizens exercised their citizenship, took action, and went out to vote. And their votes changed the political map in Israel… The outgoing government has a slight advantage in terms of the distribution of Knesset seats. The turnout among the Arab public changes the distribution of seats. When Arabs took their citizenship seriously, it made a difference. And now they're afraid, and now they're trying to exploit their power."

Abu Shahada was then asked whether he saw a connection between his arrest and the unprecedented allegations by the Shin Bet chief concerning election interference, as well as condemnations from the change bloc, which argued that the allegations represented an attempt to delegitimize the election results.

"I'm not familiar with the details of the last few days," he replied. "I didn't know when it was morning, when it was night or what the weather was like outside, and I still haven't caught up on the news.”

Powers used against him 'could be used against other journalists'

He noted that based on his “political instincts,” he felt there was a connection and an attempt at delegitimization, even as Justice Noam Solberg approved the elections and said nothing unlawful had taken place internally on Election Day.

Abu Shahada concluded by warning that the powers used against him could also be directed at other journalists.

"I'm not part of the mainstream media. But there's no reason for this to stop with me. These are very powerful mechanisms. They have unreasonable power, and it could easily spill over to other journalists. I think a lot of people should be worried."