[The] journalist Israel Frey is under police investigation for suspected incitement and support for terrorism following a social media post in which he appeared to praise the deaths of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
The left-wing ultra-Orthodox journalist Israel Frey was responding to the news of the deaths of five Israeli soldiers in the northern Gaza Strip.
"The world is better this morning without five young people who participated in one of the cruelest crimes against humanity," he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) on Tuesday.
Speaking to Haaretz, he called the police questioning “political persecution” and said he had no intention of “bowing his head to it.” He added, “We have already caused enough suffering, blood and tears. Liberate Gaza. Enough.”
Police have questioned Frey in the past over social media posts, but he has never been indicted. In March, he was questioned on suspicion of inciting terrorism over several posts he wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter) over the past year.
In one, he wrote, “A Palestinian who attacks an IDF soldier or a settler in the apartheid territories is not a terrorist. And it’s not an attack. He’s a hero fighting against an oppressor for justice, liberation and freedom.”
Right-wing activist Shai Glick filed the complaint against him at the time.
In December 2022, Frey was also questioned on suspicion of expressing support for a terrorist organization and incitement to terrorism, again over social media posts.
Frey wrote that “harming security forces is not terrorism,” and referred to a Palestinian who had planned an attack as a “hero.” After he refused to appear for questioning, the court to issued a warrant for his arrest. He was released after the interrogation, and the case was later closed.
In 2023, dozens of far-right activists threw flares at his building in the ultra-Orthodox Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, with some pursuing him after he fled, over his outspoken criticism of Israeli policies after the war in Gaza erupted.
In particular, he faced criticism for a video in which he recited the Kaddish Jewish mourners’ prayer for the victims of the war, including hundreds of women and children in Gaza whom he claimed had been “slaughtered.”
If we aren't supposed to feel happy about five zionists dying, fine. I'll be happy when they're all dead. 