Police in Jerusalem (file)
Police in Jerusalem (file)Flash 90

Police wasted no time in making good on their recent promise to crack down on Jews who incite against Arabs, and have questioned two nationalist activists in the past 48 hours – one at the Lahav 433 Unit in Lod and the other at the Rishon Letzion station.

On Tuesday, investigators questioned a Be'er Sheva resident who penned an article two years ago in which he wrote that “There once was a time in this country in which the Arab feared the Jew. Nowadays, when you see an Arab you all shake in your boots in the hope he won't look at you. Sounds surrealistic.”

"The Arabs of Israel are a future existential danger to our country, and in a future agreement they will have to move to the Arab states, where they belong,” he added.”Time is not on our side. I wonder what Ben Gurion was thinking when he allowed hundreds of thousands of hostile Arabs to remain inside the state of Israel.”

The suspect said that he stands by what he wrote and that he had been referring to MKs Hanin Zoabi and Ahmed Tibi, and “those who incite against the state.” He reminded his interrogators that “these things are not a criminal offense and there is freedom of expression in Israel.”

On Wednesday, nationalist activist Ofer Golan was questioned on suspicion that he issued a call on the internet for people to join a demonstration, and relayed anti-Arab messages.

He was released under limiting conditions after he claimed that everything he had written is protected by the right to freedom of expression. His computer was confiscated.

Attorney Itamar Ben Gvir, who represents the two, said that the police “are losing their bearings.”

"The statements that these two activists were interrogated over are statements that a democratic country does not question people over,” he explained. “In recent years, we filed innumerable complaints against leftists and anarchists who demanded that settlers be castrated, that nationalists be hurt and other incitement, but Attorney General Shai Nitzan shelved the complaints and claimed the right fredom of speech had been exercised.

"It is not surprising that specifically when there is an awakening of nationalists on the web, the Attorney General's people are quick to stifle others, and are conducting a witch hunt,” he stated.