‘It is a time of witch hunts in Israel’: teacher held in solitary confinement for posting concern about Gaza deaths
Meir Baruchin, who was fired and jailed for criticising the military, says that many who agree with him are afraid to go public
Sat 13 Jan 2024
An
unlikely charge of intent to commit treason landed Meir Baruchin, a
grey-haired, softly spoken history and civics teacher, in the solitary
confinement wing of Jerusalem’s notorious “Russian Compound” prison in
early November.
The evidence compiled by
police who handcuffed him, then drove to his apartment and ransacked it
as he watched, was a series of Facebook posts he’d made, mourning the
civilians killed in Gaza, criticising the Israeli military, and warning
against wars of revenge.
“Horrific
images are pouring in from Gaza. Entire families were wiped out. I
don’t usually upload pictures like this, but look what we do in
revenge,” said a message on 8 October, below a picture of the family of
Abu Daqqa, killed in one of the first airstrikes on Gaza. “Anyone who
thinks this is justified because of what happened yesterday, should
unfriend themselves. I ask everyone else to do everything possible to
stop this madness. Stop it now. Not later, Now!!!”
It
was the day after Hamas’s horrific attack on Israel, when the country
was reeling from the slaughter of 1,200 people and the kidnapping of
more than 240.
He knew his views about the
Israeli military were controversial; similar criticism at a less
volatile time had cost him a teaching post in the city of Rishon LeZion,
near Tel Aviv, three years earlier. He also thought expressing them was
vitally important as the country decided how to respond.
I became a ‘Hamas supporter’, because I expressed my opposition to targeting innocent civilians
Meir Baruchin“Most
Israelis don’t know much about Palestinians. They think they are
terrorists, all of them, or vague images with no names, no faces, no
family, no homes, no hopes,” Baruchin said. “What I am trying to do in
my posts is present Palestinians as human beings.”
Ten
days after that Facebook message, he was fired from his teaching job in
Petach Tikvah municipality. Less than a month later he was in a
high-security jail, detained to give police more time to investigate
critical views he had never tried to hide.
Inside Israel, veteran journalists, intellectuals
and rights activists say, there is little public space for dissent
about the war in Gaza, even three months into an offensive that has
killed 23,000 Palestinians and has no end in sight. “Make no mistake: Baruchin
was used as a political tool to send a political message. The motive
for his arrest was deterrence – silencing any criticism or any hint of
protest against Israeli policy,” the long-established Haaretz newspaper said in an editorial.
He
is not the only teacher to be targeted. Authorities also summoned Yael
Ayalon, head of a Tel Aviv high school, after she shared a Haaretz article
warning that Israeli media was hiding the suffering of Gaza’s
civilians. “Israeli citizens need to be aware of this reality,” the
piece said.
Meir Baruchin believes expressing his views about the Israeli military was vitally important. Photograph: Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Her
students rioted in the school after news of the post spread; she took
her employers to a tribunal and was reinstated, but when she returned to
school she was attacked again by students chanting “go home”. She
declined to speak to the Observer.
Baruchin
also had a hearing at an educational tribunal case this month. Under
Israeli employment law, municipal authorities have no right to fire a
teacher whose performance has always been excellent, he says and free
speech laws protected his right to post about the war.
But
he is living on savings while he waits for the verdict and even if he
wins the treason charges have not been dropped: he could live in their
shadow for five years, the limit for the police to prosecute.
“This
story is much bigger than my personal story, or Yael’s personal story.
It is a time of witch hunts in Israel, of political persecution,” he
said. “I became a ‘Hamas supporter’, because I expressed my opposition
to targeting innocent civilians.”
He said he’d
received hundreds of private messages of support from fellow teachers
and students who were too frightened to go public, and showed several to
the Observer.
“The
message is crystal clear: keep silent, watch out,” he says, adding that
they strengthened his own conviction about speaking out. “I thought to
myself, when I retire, I might conclude this is the most significant
lesson I ever gave in civics.”
There were cold-water showers, a tiny piece of soap, two blankets stinking from cigarette smoke and a tiny towel
Meir BaruchinBaruchin
believes he is the only Jewish Israeli to have been detained for
denouncing civilian deaths in Gaza, but this would not be unusual if he
was a Palestinian citizen of Israel.
Hundreds have been arrested and jailed, or lost jobs or access to education because of social media posts.
The judge who put Baruchin in prison drew an explicit comparison. “Had
an Arab resident made the post, the danger would have been clear. I do
not believe that there is room for differentiating between an Arab post
and a Jewish post.”
The country’s differing free-speech standards for Jewish and Palestinian citizens was cited by a group of prominent Israelis in a letter warning that incitement to genocide had been normalised in the country.
Baruchin
was initially told to come to a police station for questioning over
charges of sedition. When he pointed out to police that they needed a
warrant from the attorney general to charge an Israeli citizen with that
offence, treason charges were duly drawn up.
When
he arrived at the police station, his arms and ankles were cuffed, and
he was shown a warrant to search his home. Five detectives escorted him
there, turned his apartment upside down and eventually confiscated two
laptops and six hard drives. The police then asked for more time to
investigate, and a judge ordered that he be detained.
“I
wasn’t allowed to take anything with me to the cell,” he says. “I
walked in with my clothes on and stayed with the same clothes for four
days. There were cold-water showers, a tiny piece of soap, two blankets
stinking from cigarette smoke and a tiny towel.
“I
was not allowed a book, TV or anything. The wardens were not allowed to
talk to me and there were no windows, so I didn’t know daytime from
night-time. My watch was taken away.
“In order
not to go crazy I exercised every one and a half to two hours. Every
time the warden came to check I asked what time it was, to calculate how
much is left.”
He was interrogated again
before a second judge ordered his release. Questioners told him his
posts were like the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, among the most
famously antisemitic documents in the world. “I’m a history teacher, so I
asked, ‘Did you ever read them?’ They didn’t respond.”
When
his name is clear, Baruchin plans to sue Israeli media who reported
police charges without asking for his response or looking for evidence,
and accused him of justifying and legitimising Hamas.
He
says he has not been traumatised by the experience, as for him the fate
of Palestinian civilians and Israeli hostages in Gaza is much more
disturbing. He still follows what is happening there
closely, and flicks on his phone through images of the recent dead, a
journalist, a violinist, a baby.
His latest post before the Observer
interview was an image of an improvised grave marker, that looks like
part of a broken piece of furniture. “Unknown martyr, green jacket and
trainers,” the inscription reads.
“The whole
story in one picture,” he says. “The Israeli mainstream media don’t
broadcast this picture. They don’t get this picture, and don’t want to
get this picture.”