Archiv: Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel (organization)


10.10.2025 - 01:00 [ Anadolu ]

Activists detained from Gaza aid flotilla face physical abuse, humiliation in Israeli detention: Legal center

Israeli naval forces attacked a 9-boat convoy by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC) heading to Gaza to break Israel’s illegal blockade on Wednesday and detained around 150 activists aboard.

“Some flotilla participants reported physical abuse, humiliation, and inhuman treatment during and after the interception, including being kicked, slapped, having their hair pulled, or being grabbed aggressively by soldiers,” Adalah Legal Center said in a statement.

“Some were forced into stressful positions, including being made to kneel for hours with their heads down and hands restrained behind their backs, or to sit on their knees for extended periods, in some cases while exposed to the sun.

“Some participants reported being mocked, insulted, and coerced into repeating degrading statements, including declarations of love for Israel or denigration of their own countries,” it added.

07.10.2025 - 23:58 [ Al Jazeera ]

Six activists from Gaza aid flotilla remain in Israeli detention

“Six participants who were aboard the Global Sumud Flotilla, unlawfully intercepted and detained on their way to Gaza amid the ongoing genocide, remain in Israeli detention,” a statement said.

Lawyers submitted requests to Israeli authorities to visit the detainees on Wednesday if they remain in custody. Israeli media earlier reported that authorities extended the detention of Spanish activist Reyes Rigo Cervilla for one week.

05.10.2025 - 18:04 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

Update from Adalah Illegal Hearings and Mistreatment of GSF Detainees at Ktzi‘ot Prison

4 October 2025 – 15:50 GMT+3

Yesterday, Friday 3 October, Adalah lawyers met with approximately 80 flotilla participants during hearings before the tribunal reviewing detention orders.

Around 200 hearings were held late Thursday night and into Friday morning, without any prior notice to Adalah’s lawyers and without legal defenders for the flotilla participants present. Hearings are continuing today, and our lawyers are currently at Ktzi‘ot Prison where hundreds of flotilla participants are currently being held.

02.10.2025 - 21:32 [ Global Sumud Flotilla / Telegram ]

Update from Adalah — Global Sumud Flotilla, Lawyers Denied Access to Participants

(…)

26.08.2025 - 20:53 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Adalah: Police’s Failure to Investigate Attempted Lynch of MK Odeh

Upon MK Odeh’s arrival, dozens of rioters attacked his car and shouted racist slogans such as “Death to Arabs.” When MK Odeh spoke at the protest, he was attacked again, together with the other demonstrators, as various objects were thrown at them. Following his speech, MK Odeh managed to reach his car, while rioters armed with stones and sticks tried to attack him. At one point, the rioters hurled a large stone that shattered the vehicle’s rear windshield. After these events, the police arrested only three people: one of whom was a demonstrator who had been attacked by the rioters; he was released shortly thereafter at the police station. The court later released the two other individuals who were arrested and detained.

Following these events, right-wing activists uploaded dozens of posts and videos on social media platforms praising, sympathizing and encouraging these assaults; some even explicitly called for repeating such acts in the future.

30.06.2025 - 03:48 [ Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel ]

Knesset Hearing Offers the Clearest Evidence: Expulsion Attempt Against MK Ayman Odeh Is a Political and Inciteful Campaign Against Palestinian Representation

(June 27, 2025)

In a display of open hostility, Committee Chair Ofir Katz declared to MK Odeh: “You won’t be in the Knesset—we will remain, and you won’t. Not in the Knesset, not in Israel.” Other MKs shouted that he should “keep shouting from jail,” while another told him: “You all should go to Gaza”. Right-wing MKs accused him of promoting a “violent Palestinian ideology,” said an indictment should already have been filed, and called him an “enemy from within.”

Chair Katz escalated the incitement further, stating: “While the soldiers are fighting on seven fronts, the eighth front needs to be cleared, and Ayman Odeh is our eighth front… He is continuously working to weaken the State of Israel, to discredit it, to undermine it and to strengthen its enemies.” When MK Odeh repeated that the Israeli military is committing war crimes—a statement for which he was already sanctioned by the Knesset Ethics Committee—the chair threatened: “If you continue to defame IDF soldiers, you will not be allowed to speak here.”

The committee blatantly ignored the Knesset legal advisor’s determination that only one statement—MK Odeh’s January tweet concerning the Israel-Hamas deal—could be legally considered. Instead, MKs used the hearing to dredge up unrelated political positions and to launch personal attacks, in open defiance of the law and the legal advisor’s position.

MK Odeh’s January statement was a tweet that read: “Happy about the release of the hostages and prisoners. From here, we must free both peoples from the burden of occupation. We were all born free.” During the hearing, he reaffirmed his support for this statement and others, including his position that Israel is committing crimes against humanity against Palestinians in Gaza.

30.06.2025 - 03:34 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Standing Up for Hadash MK Ayman Odeh Free Speech in the Knesset

On last Tuesday, June 24, during wars in Gaza and Iran, the Knesset House Committee began the process of expelling MK Ayman Odeh (Hadash). Why? He protected free speech and called for the end of war and occupation. But in a so called “Israel democracy” a political speech by a Hadash MK is grounds for dismissal. Dr Hassan Jabareen of Adalah—The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights, who is serving as Odeh’s legal counsel and is arguing as such.

Att. Jabareen, condemned the process as fundamentally flawed and unlawful, noting that the MKs’ refusal to follow the legal advisor’s ruling violated Odeh’s rights and rendered the entire procedure illegitimate. He emphasized that Odeh’s speech is fully legal and protected. The proceedings confirmed what has been clear from the outset of this process: the expulsion attempt is a dangerous, inciteful escalation in the ongoing political assault against Hadash and Arab Palestinian lawmakers in Israel.

21.06.2025 - 21:39 [ Gisha.org ]

הנדון:דרישה להימנע מביצוע פשעימלחמהופשעים נגד האנושות: איסור על העברה בכפייה של האוכלוסייה האזרחית ברצועת עזה והחובה לאפשר לכל תושב לחזור לביתו בכל עת שיבחר

בשםגישה–מרכז לשמירה על הזכות לנוע,עדאלה–המרכז המשפטי לזכויות המיעוט הערבי בישראל,
המוקד להגנת הפרט והאגודה לזכויות האזרח בישראל,הרינו לפנות אליכם בדחיפותבדרישהלהימנע
מגירוש תושביםמרצועת עזה ומהטלת מגבלות על חזרתם,וכן,לבטל את החלטה מס‘ ב/176של ועדת
השרים לענייני ביטחון לאומי (להלן: הקבינט)שכותרתה“היערכות לאפשרות מעבר מרצון של פלסטינים
ברצועת עזה למדינות שלישליות“.הכל כפי שיופרט להלן:
א.החלטה ב/176של הקבינט הביטחוני בעניין עידוד הגירה“מרצון“של תושבי הרצועה
1.ביום23.3.2025קיבל הקבינטהחלטהמס‘ב/176לפיה הוחלט, בין היתרכי:“… בהמשך להצהרות
נשיא ארצות הברית בדבר מתן אפשרות למעבר מרצון של פלסטינים מרצועת עזה למדינותשלישיות
-להיערך לאפשר הרחבה של מעבר מרצון של פלסטינים אשר יביעו עניין בכך מרצועת עזה למדינות
שלישיות, כפוף לדין הישראלי והבין-לאומי“.
2.לשם כך, הנחתה ההחלטהאתשר הביטחון להקים „מנהלת במשרד הביטחון“ אשר „תתאם את
פעילות כלל משרדי הממשלה הרלוונטיים וכן של צה“ל, השב“כ ומשטרת ישראל … בכל הנוגע
להיערכות האמורה … במנהלת יהיו חברים נציגי משרדי המשפטים, החוץ, הפנים, האוצר, התחבורה
והבטיחות בדרכים, עיינים אסטרטגיים,הביטחון הלאומי, החדשנות, המדע והטכנולוגיה וכן נציגי
צה“ל, מתאם פעולות הממשלה בשטחים, שירות הבטחון הכללי, המטה לבטחון לאומי, המוסד
למודיעין ולתפקידים מיוחדים ומשטרת ישראל“.עוד הוחלט, כי „המנהלת תפעל מול כלל הגורמים
כאמור בין היתר כדילהיערך לאפשר מעבר בטוח מבוקר של פלסטינים בישראל לשם יציאתם מרצון
למדינות שלישיות…וכן תיאום העמדת תשתית שתאפשר מעבר דרך היבשה, הין והאווירלמדינות
היעד“.
3.החלטה זו התקבלה ברקעהצהרותשל שרים בממשלה בדבר פינוי רצועת עזה.כך למשל, בסרטון
וידאו אשר פרסם שר הביטחון כ“ץ הוא הבהיר, בין היתר, כי תינתן אפשרות לתושבי עזה לעבור
למדינותשלישיות, כאשר האלטרנטיבה שהוצבה היא „הרס וחורבן מוחלט“

21.06.2025 - 21:39 [ Adalah.org ]

Israel’s “voluntary emigration” policy from the Gaza Strip constitutes the forced transfer of the civilian population – a war crime and crime against humanity

Israel-based human rights organizations – Gisha, Adalah, The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual – addressed Israel’s Defense Minister Israel Katz, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, and Military Advocate General Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, demanding the immediate cancellation of the Security Cabinet decision from March 23, 2025, concerning “preparation for the possibility of voluntary departure of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip to third countries.” Following this decision, a “Voluntary Emigration Administration” was established within the Defense Ministry. The organizations demand that Israeli authorities not interfere with the freedom of movement of Gaza residents and refrain from imposing restrictions on their right to return to the Strip at any time and without conditions. The letter was written by Attorney Suhad Bishara of Adalah and Attorney Osnat Cohen-Lifshitz of Gisha.

The letter noted that statements by Defense Minister Israel Katz and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reveal an intention to promote and implement transfer from the Gaza Strip under the guise of “voluntary emigration.” It was recently reported that Israel is using intelligence information to send messages to Gaza residents, calling on them to contact a representative to coordinate their departure.

21.06.2025 - 21:37 [ Gisha.org ]

Israel’s “voluntary emigration” policy from the Gaza Strip effectively constitutes the forced transfer of the civilian population – a war crime and crime against humanity

Four Israel-based human rights organizations warn Israel’s Defense Minister, Attorney General, and Military Advocate General that Israel‘s „voluntary emigration“ policy from the Gaza Strip effectively constitutes the forced transfer of the civilian population – a war crime and crime against humanity

12.06.2025 - 19:03 [ Palestine Chronicle ]

Israel Deports Six Madleen Activists, Including EU MP Rima Hassan

Rima Hassan, the EU MP, was deported on Thursday, along with Mark van Rennes from the Netherlands, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Thiago Avila from Brazil, and Reva Viard from France.

Human rights group Adalah said two others, Pascal Maurieras and Yanis Mhamdi, both French nationals, are still being held at the Givon prison and were expected to be deported on Friday.

Four others, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, were deported on Tuesday.

12.06.2025 - 01:16 [ Freedom Flotilla Coalition ]

Freedom Flotilla Volunteers on the ‘Madleen’ face Solitary Confinement – Update from Adalah Legal team

Occupied Palestine – The Freedom Flotilla Coalition strongly condemns the Israeli government’s use of solitary confinement against two of its detained volunteers: Rima Hassan, a Palestinian Member of the European Parliament, and Thiago Ávila, a Brazilian human rights defender and member of the Freedom Flotilla Coalition Steering Committee. Both were aboard the Madleen, a civilian aid ship carrying humanitarian supplies to Gaza when it was unlawfully seized by Israeli forces in international waters.

Rima Hassan was reportedly placed in solitary confinement after writing “Free Palestine” on the wall of her cell. While she has since been removed from solitary and returned to Givon prison, her detention and the punitive measures taken against her remain a direct attack on a democratically elected official who has consistently advocated for justice, liberation, and an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza. Silencing a parliamentarian in this manner underscores the brutality and impunity of the Zionist regime.

Thiago Ávila has also been forcibly isolated — confined in a small, dark, airless, and contactless cell, where Israeli authorities have threatened to detain him for seven days. Ávila is on his third day of a hunger and water strike to denounce Israel’s crimes and the complicity of governments that have remained shamefully silent.

09.06.2025 - 17:30 [ Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel ]

Israeli Forces Detain Freedom Flotilla Activists; Adalah Demands Their Immediate Release and Disclosure of Their Whereabouts After Unlawful Interception of the Madleen

A total of 12 people were on board the Madleen, including 11 activists and one journalist. Among them are Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg. French-Palestinian Member of the European Parliament Rima Hassan, Yasemin Acar from Germany, Baptiste Andre, Pascal Maurieras, Yanis Mhamdi and Reva Viard from France, Thiago Avila from Brazil, Suayb Ordu from Turkey, Sergio Toribio from Spain, Marco van Rennes from the Netherlands and Omar Faiad, a journalist with Al Jazeera Mubasher, also from France.

Adalah demands the immediate disclosure of the activists’ location and legal status, and their access to legal counsel to enable legal representation before Israeli authorities and tribunals. Adalah will pursue legal actions to secure the activists’ safety and release.

09.06.2025 - 17:27 [ Middle East Eye ]

Freedom Flotilla Coalition says whereabouts of Madleen crew remain ‚unknown‘

„According to the Israeli Immigration Authority, they are not in its custody,“ press officer Hay Sha Wiya said, adding that rights group Adalah has repeatedly contacted Israeli military officials but has yet to receive any response to its inquiries or letters since the early hours of the morning.

20.12.2024 - 22:04 [ Adalah ]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Arab Leadership in Israel Appeals to Supreme Court Against Law Allowing Education Ministry to Dismiss Teachers and Cut Funding to Palestinian Schools Over Alleged “Support of Terrorism”

(December 17, 2024)

In the petition, Adalah Attorney Salam Irsheid argued that the law is clearly racist in intent, especially given the widespread persecution and criminalization of hundreds of Palestinian citizens by Israeli authorities and other entities since the outbreak of the war 7 October 2023, for merely expressing entirely lawful opinions. The law’s deliberate vagueness, and the fact that it only addresses “incitement to terrorism”—which is used almost exclusively to target Palestinians—while excluding incitement to violence or racism, highlights its discriminatory purpose. By granting broad, unchecked powers to political and administrative authorities, the law enables punitive actions to be taken against Palestinian educators for expressing views that fall outside the mainstream consensus, thereby severely undermining their basic right to freedom of expression. Adalah further argued that the law breaches the principle of the separation of powers, as it grants the Education Ministry the authority to infringe on teachers’ rights to freedom of expression and occupation, effectively requiring a determination of whether they have committed a criminal offense, even if no charges have been filed against them.

20.12.2024 - 21:48 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Petition to Supreme Court; Far-Right Govt Consider Bill Banning Left and Arab Campus Groups

Hadash MKs opposed the proposed legislation, calling it “dime-store fascist populism and McCarthyism.” According to Hadash MK Aida Touma-Sliman, “The Knesset is advancing two bills targeting critical students and professors, aimed primarily at Palestinian and leftist voices in academia. These bills seek to silence any remaining voices resisting the government’s policies of occupation and war. This marks another step in the fascist agenda to suppress any real opposition to the extreme right. Heads of universities, professors, and students recognize the danger of such legislation and are voicing their opposition.

On past week, the Knesset plenum, in a preliminary reading, passed a proposed law that would amend the Students Rights Law, allowing most Israeli higher education institutions to implement gender separation. MK Son Har-Melech proposed the law, which 55 members of the Knesset (MKs) supported and 45 MKs opposed.

30.08.2024 - 15:28 [ Adalah ]

Israeli police foil film screening of Mohammed Bakri’s Janin Jenin by issuing temporary order to close Communist Party headquarters in Haifa

(August 27, 2024)

Monday night, the Maki Haifa Branch was shut down by the police for an event that included a screening of Mohammed Bakri’s new film. Bakri’s earlier film, Jenin, Jenin, was banned by an Israeli Court in 2021. Adalah demands immediate intervention by the Attorney General to ensure police will not obstruct the next screening. This action is part of broader Israeli police policies designed to suppress dissent against Israel’s brutal assault on Gaza.

20.03.2024 - 00:05 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Human Rights Organizations Petition High Court: Israel is Preventing the Supply of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza

Five Israeli human rights organizations in Israel filed on Monday, March 18, a petition calling on High Court to order the far-right government, Prime Minister, Defense Minister, and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories to enable access of all humanitarian aid, equipment and staff to Gaza, especially to the north of the Strip; to significantly increase the volume of aid to Gaza, including by opening land crossings between Gaza and Israel, and to provide for all the needs of the civilian population in keeping with Israel’s obligations as the occupying power.

This in light of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and the lethal harm to civilians caused, in part, as a result of Israeli restrictions on access to aid into and throughout the Strip. The petition was filed by Gisha together with HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, and Adalah.

31.01.2024 - 18:35 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Racist Ben Gvir Warns Hadash Leader ‘Next in Line’ to Be Expelled from Knesset

Racist National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir appears to threaten Hadash MK Ayman Odeh with impeachment, tweeting out a picture of him with the message “next in line.” The photo shared by Ben Gvir shows Odeh holding the arm of Khalida Jarrar, a legislator and senior figure in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, as she flashes a victory sign following her release from prison in September 2021. On last December 27, Jarrar was arrested again by occupation forces.

The far-right leader’s message comes hours after members of the Knesset House Committee overwhelmingly supported a motion to expel Hadash-Ta’al party lawmaker Ofer Cassif, voting 14-2 to advance his impeachment to the Knesset plenum following two days of contentious debate. During Tuesday’s debate on Cassif’s impeachment, Hadash-Ta’al MK Ahmad Tibi warned the Communist lawmaker’s ouster would “set a precedent” allowing for the impeachment of “all the Arab MKs in the Knesset.” “This is a black day for the Knesset,” Tibi declares following the vote.

31.01.2024 - 18:30 [ Adalah.org ]

Adalah: Motion to Expel Israeli Knesset Member for Supporting South Africa’s ICJ Case Is Unlawful

30/01/2024

Today, the Knesset’s House Committee voted to expel Hadash MK Ofer Cassif, based on his public support for South Africa‘s application to the ICJ accusing Israel of genocide. Adalah: The motion is a deliberate attempt to suppress political dissent against Israel‘s brutal military campaign on Gaza

29.11.2023 - 12:45 [ Communist Party of Israel ]

Ben-Gvir’s Police are Arresting Innocent Arabs, Adalah

(26.11.2023)

In the majority of the cases, the indictments included accusations of supporting or identifying with a terrorist organization, according to section 24a of the Law of the Fight Against Terror and accusations of incitement to terrorism according to section 24b of the same law.

According Adalah, Israeli authorities have accused dozens of individuals of “supporting terrorist organizations” or engaging in “incitement to terrorism” for planning protests and expressing their opinions on social media platforms. The posts, interactions, and other means of expression largely fall within the rights protected by freedom of expression. The speech includes opposition to the targeting of civilians in Gaza, expressions of sympathy for the Palestinian people in Gaza, opposition to collective punishment and war crimes, and the dissemination of news about Gaza.

17.11.2023 - 07:20 [ Time Magazine ]

‘They Are Behaving in a Fascist Way:’ An Israeli-Arab Lawmaker on the Stifling of Anti-War Voices

(November 11, 2023)

We told the police that we are going to have this protest, that it’s going to be only leadership, that it’s not going to be a massive demonstration or something like this. The next day, when Barakeh was heading to Nazareth, they arrested him.

How do you interpret these crackdowns? Is this an attempt by the Israeli government to effectively criminalize expressions of Palestinian identity and solidarity?

Not only the Palestinian identity. I think that whatever they couldn’t pass through the judicial overhaul, they are passing now under the cover of the war.

09.08.2023 - 13:32 [ Adalah.org ]

Mission, Strategic Litigation, International Advocacy

Adalah (“Justice” in Arabic) is an independent human rights organization and legal center. It was founded in November 1996 as a joint project of two leading Arab NGOs – The Galilee Society and the Arab Association for Human Rights (HRA), and it became an independent NGO in 1997.

Adalah’s mission is to promote human rights in Israel in general and the rights of the Palestinian minority, citizens of Israel, in particular (around 1.5 million people, or 20% of the population). This work also includes promoting and defending the human rights of all individuals subject to the jurisdiction of the State of Israel (e.g. Palestinian residents of the OPT).

09.08.2023 - 13:25 [ Haaretz ]

38 Human Rights Orgs Petition High Court to Strike Down Judicial Overhaul Law

The petition was signed, among others, by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, the Aguda for LGBT rights, Mizrahi Democratic Rainbow Coalition, Kav LaOved for disadvantaged workers, The Association for Ethiopian Jews, and the Adalah organization for Arab minority rights in Israel.

Several petitions against the law have already been filed, among else by the Israel Bar Association, the Movement for Quality Government in Israel, the Civic-Democratic organization and the Darkenu organization.

Additionally, private individuals, including military personnel, former Knesset members, and social activists, have submitted petitions against the law.

04.02.2022 - 09:21 [ Gisha.org/ ]

Human rights organizations in Israel condemn vicious attacks on Amnesty International

Signed,

Adalah, Breaking the Silence, B’Tselem, Combatants for Peace, Gisha, HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual, Haqel: In Defence of Human Rights, Human Rights Defenders Fund, Ofek: The Israeli Center for Public Affairs, Parents Against Child Detention, Physicians for Human Rights Israel, The Public Committee Against Torture In
Israel, and Yesh Din

22.12.2020 - 23:44 [ Ben Reiff / Twitter ]

Arab MK Yousef Jabareen presented a petition at the Supreme Court today against the Nation-State Bill, on behalf of the Joint List and the NGO Adalah. Upon leaving he was harassed by Likud supporters chanting “death to terrorists”. They are the face of this racist law.