Adalah Demands Israel Security Agency halt Unlawful Political Interrogations of Palestinian Citizens of Israel
On 22 July 2025, Adalah - The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel sent an urgent legal letter to Israel’s Attorney General,and to the Legal Advisor to the Israel Security Agency (ISA), demanding an immediate halt to the unlawful practice of the ISA summoning Palestinian citizens of Israel for political interrogations, particularly Bedouin citizens. The letter followed recent reports from Palestinian citizens of Israel, including minors and elderly individuals, who were summoned by the ISA in a disturbing pattern of politically motivated harassment.
Two Haaretz articles, from 11 May and 1 July 2025, published testimonies regarding the ISA (also known as Shabak in Arabic or Shin Bet) summoning many Palestinians to informal interrogations. Those who were summoned were not formally suspected of a crime and such summonses clearly intend to intimidate them and silence legitimate political activity. The citizens' testimonies report interrogations about their online activities, political affiliations, music preferences, and even sharing Quranic verses. Among the most alarming tactics documented were summoning citizens to the police station without informing them that attendance would be voluntary, threatening them with deportations to Gaza or home raids, and pressuring them by also summoning their family members for questioning.
In light of these reports, Adalah sent an urgent letter demanding an immediate halt to these unlawful practices. In the letter, Adalah attorney Nareman Shehadeh-Zoabi argued that these interrogations are not only unlawful, but that they amount to political persecution, censorship, and a gross violation of constitutional rights. The ISA is operating well outside its legal authority, using threats, deception, and fear to silence dissent among Palestinian citizens of Israel.
To read the letter (in Hebrew)
Adalah emphasized that these actions violate precedents set by Israel’s Supreme Court, particularly the Interrogations Case (2017), which strictly limits the ISA’s authority to conduct “warning conversations.” Such conversations are voluntary, clearly defined as non-investigative, and may not be used as legal evidence. Youth and Gen-Z Palestinian citizens of Israel are being increasingly targeted for benign online activities such as online gaming, music sharing, or political expression. Adalah further stresses that these practices are a part of a broader systematic campaign targeting Palestinian citizens of Israel with a sharp escalation following 7 October 2023, and that such actions cause serious harm to the rights to dignity, privacy, free expression, and due process.
Adalah demands an immediate end to the use of the ISA as a tool to suppress and censor Palestinian political expression, a ban on unlawful “warning conversations” and interrogations of Palestinian citizens, and updated and clearly defined legal guidelines restricting ISA questioning to only the most serious and exceptional cases.
