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WHY CAN A JEW CALL FOR MASS KILLINGS BUT I CAN’T SAY ‘GOOD
MORNING, GAZA’?  
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Maha Ighbaria
December 23, 2025
Haaretz
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_ What is in fact demanded of a Palestinian citizen of Israel –
someone who identifies with her people and vocally objects to the
injustices Israel perpetrates against them – in order not to be seen
as a threat. _

An Israeli court. 'The harassment I suffered isn't an isolated
incident.', Photo credit: Moti Milrod / Haaretz

 

Three weeks ago, the disciplinary court of the Bar Association's Tel
Aviv district handed down its decision in my case. It suspended me
from practicing law for a year, gave me an additional one-year
suspended sentence, and ordered me to pay 3,000 shekels ($930) in
adjudication costs to the district's executive committee.

This harsh decision
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led me to reflect on what is in fact demanded of a Palestinian citizen
of Israel – someone who identifies with her people
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and vocally objects to the injustices Israel perpetrates against them
– in order not to be seen as a threat. It seems that even this is
more than the Israeli legal system is prepared to tolerate.

The Bar Association itself initiated the complaint against me, in
response to two Facebook posts I published on October 7 and 8, 2023.
The first, posted at 7:30 A.M. on October 7, was short, and I never
imagined it would provoke the Bar Association's wrath. I simply wrote
in Arabic, "Good morning, Gaza."

The second post, written in Hebrew, was longer and unapologetically
addressed to my followers, and my Jewish Israeli friends. One sentence
in particular was deemed problematic by the Bar Association: "I will
always stand on the side of my people, wherever it is and whatever
means of resistance it chooses as a legitimate response to the
occupation, siege and apartheid."

For two years, facing a panel of three lawyers, I stood and explained
what I meant. I told them, and I am saying it again here, that "Good
morning, Gaza" articulated the sense of fear that gripped me about
what was about to befall the Gaza Strip
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fears that materialized in horrific fashion. That's what I meant, but
it's difficult to persuade an Israeli body comprised solely of
Jewish-Israelis that I don't support terrorism of any kind.

The second post was meant to send a simple message that I apparently
failed to convey – that I rejected the demand that I issue a
condemnation. I do not accept the perception of me, or of us, as
eternal suspects. This demand for loyalty has become official policy,
under which every Palestinian in Israel must justify their very
existence, their opinions and their every action..

 
Maha Ighbaria
I never demanded that my Jewish-Israeli friends condemn the racist,
violent and outrageous statements made by National Security Minister
Itamar Ben-Gvir
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and other senior Jewish officials. The thought never crossed my mind;
nor would such crude generalization make any sense.To set the record
straight, I will reiterate what I have always said, both before and
after October 7: I, Maha Ighbaria, a secular Palestinian, a
politically active woman and human rights activist, oppose all forms
of violence and abuses of human rights.

The harassment I suffered isn't an isolated incident. Since October 7,
the Arab-Palestinian community in Israel has come under heightened
surveillance, persecution and a culture of informants, all aimed at
suppressing freedom of expression and political activity.

Ever since the war of annihilation in Gaza began, Arab citizens of
Israel – in the healthcare system, the arts, academia, sports and
the public square – have been arrested, interrogated, dismissed from
their workplaces, and smeared as "terrorists" for expressing
legitimate viewpoints.

In my case, the very organization that is supposed to defend freedom
of expression, our profession and democratic principles – the Bar
Association – joined the ugly campaign of silencing and arbitrary
punishment. Elsewhere in the world, bar associations serve and protect
their members; in Israel, that protection is reserved exclusively for
Jewish lawyers.

Even if my statements were controversial, I still demand minimal
protection from the association and demand fair and equal treatment by
the association. After all, the right to freedom of expression exists
to protect speech that is divisive or unsettling, not only agreeable
and delicately phrased statements.

As I didn't call for violence, the Bar Association should have been
the first to protect my freedom of expression. Instead, it chose to
act as the police, while cloaked in the black robes of a judge.

During the hearings, the panel was presented with numerous shocking
examples of statements by Jewish lawyers. Unlike me, they made these
statements on professional platforms, and called for committing
extremely serious crimes. Among these comments were "I want to see a
crater in Gaza ... in my view, there are no innocents there"; "We want
mass killing"; and "Happy Nabka (2) Day." Yet not a single complaint
was filed over those statements.

While there may not be two formal legal systems for two peoples, the
reality is, in many ways, even more dangerous: a single legal system
that systematically imposes different standards on Palestinian
citizens.

I chose to become a lawyer due to my interest in the field and my
desire for justice and equality. And it's not a crime to voice an
opinion, even if it's a controversial one.

And so, together with the dedicated staff of Adalah – the Legal
Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, I will appeal this shameful
decision and pursue every possible legal avenue to remedy this
injustice. I will insist on my right to freedom of expression as a
Palestinian, a lawyer and a political activist without apologizing for
who I am.

_[MAHA IGHBARIA is a human rights lawyer and political activist.]_ 

* Palestinians
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* Arab Israelis
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* Gaza
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* Israel
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* Oct 7
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* apartheid
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* Israeli judiciary
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* Maha Ighbaria
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* Adalah
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