freedom of expression

Portraits of fascism: a special photography project

Since Oct. 7, Israeli police have arrested hundreds for opposing the Gaza war and published degrading photos of several detainees. Seven agreed to be photographed again — this time on their own terms.

By Oren Ziv May 9, 2025

The front pages of newspapers in Israel at a shop in Jerusalem during the judicial overhaul, July 25, 2023. (Chaim Goldbeg/Flash90)

Breaking new records, Israel sees unprecedented spike in media censorship

In 2024, Israel's military censor banned 1,635 articles from publication and partially redacted another 6,265 — part of a wider assault on freedom of press.

By Haggai Matar May 2, 2025

Students walk by as relatives of Israelis held hostage in Gaza protest for their release, outside the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, July 16, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

The schizophrenic existence of Palestinian students on Israeli campuses

We've learned to suppress our identity and emotions, unable to speak about the carnage in Gaza. But in our relative safety, we are also trapped by guilt.

By Guevara Bader April 4, 2025

Latest

A pro-Palestine demonstration in the Kreuzberg area of Berlin, October 28, 2023.

Germany moves to deport four foreign residents for pro-Palestine activism

The four slated for deportation have not been convicted of any crime but are alleged to have participated in protests against Israel's assault on Gaza.

By Hanno Hauenstein April 1, 2025

A promotional poster for Nidal Baderneh's show "Iron Kibbeh."

A Palestinian comedian walks into an Israeli interrogation room

Nidal Badarneh was arrested for joking about Israeli hostages. Yet when Israeli comedians joke about the war, or even killing Palestinians, no one bats an eye.

By Noam Shuster-Eliassi March 12, 2025

Mahmoud and Ahmad Muna appear in court after their arrest during an Israeli police raid of their Educational Bookshop in East Jerusalem, Feb. 10, 2025. (Oren Ziv)

The day Israel came for the booksellers

With a Palestinian coloring book as proof of 'incitement,' Israeli police raided East Jerusalem's world-famous Educational Bookshop and arrested its owners.

By Oren Ziv February 11, 2025

Israeli police arrest a Palestinian woman in Karmiel, northern Israel, July 3, 2024. (David Cohen/Flash90)

For Israeli police, humiliating Palestinian women is a tool of collective repression

Political arrests of Palestinian women in Israel — who face strip-searches, blindfolding, and doxxing — aim to send the community a clear message.

By Mariam Farah December 20, 2024

Tamer Nafar (courtesy of the author)

What can Palestinian artists do in the face of our slaughter?

I used to believe art could change the world. Now it feels like an airplane black box: it won’t navigate the landing, it can only document the crash.

By Tamer Nafar July 11, 2024

Members of the Turkish media seen during clashes between Israeli police and Palestinians after Friday prayers in East Jerusalem, December 15, 2023. [Nati Shohat/Flash90]

Israeli military censor bans highest number of articles in over a decade

The sharp rise in media censorship in 2023 comes as the Israeli government further undermines press freedoms, especially amid the Gaza war.

By Haggai Matar May 20, 2024

Professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian during her court proceeding in Jerusalem, April 19, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

The orchestrated persecution of Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian

A vicious campaign by Israeli academia, police, and media to silence the professor shows Palestinians they have no safe place in Zionist institutions.

By Shahrazad Odeh April 30, 2024

Empty seats in Haifa's Sard Theater. (Courtesy)

Palestinian artists stifled as Israel ‘weaponizes fear and fame’

Death threats, arrests, and self-censorship are creating a repressive environment for Palestinian cultural figures and institutions in Israel.

By Mariam Farah April 23, 2024

Students seen at the "Mount Scopus" campus at Hebrew University on the first day of the opening of the university year, October 23, 2022. (Olivier Fitoussi/Flash90)

Hebrew University’s Faculty of Repressive Science

The suspension of Palestinian professor Nadera Shalhoub-Kevorkian empties all meaning from the university’s proclaimed values of pluralism and equality.

By Orly Noy March 23, 2024

A Palestine solidarity demonstration in the Potsdamer Platz area, Berlin, October 15, 2023. The police suppressed the demonstration shortly after authorizing it.

The spiraling absurdity of Germany’s pro-Israel fanaticism

As repression of Palestine solidarity penetrates every sector of life, the state's liberal self-image is fast becoming a story Germans can only tell themselves.

By Michael Sappir March 21, 2024