JERUSALEM (AP) – Nine months ago, Dareen Tatour posted a poem to Facebook about her frustration over spiking violence between Israelis and Palestinians. Days later, Israeli police banged on her door in the middle of the night and arrested her, accusing her of inciting violence on the social network.
Tatour, an Arab citizen of Israel, is one of several hundred people detained in recent years for allegedly spreading incitement.
Hoping to further clamp down on what it sees as the driving force behind a 10-month spate of Palestinian attacks, Israel is now preparing a law that aims to rein in content on social media, including Facebook, a platform it says plays a central role in inspiring attackers.
Critics say Israel is going too far, and that the new legislation will make it easier to violate freedom of expression, especially of Israel’s Arab citizens.
“Where is the democracy here? There is no democracy. Voicing your opinion is the only medium for an individual in a democracy,” Tatour, 34, said by phone from the apartment outside Tel Aviv where she was confined to house arrest after spending three months in jail. She has no access to the internet and is forced to wear an electronic ankle monitor.