Tel Aviv police refused to allow a silent vigil for World Children’s Day saying the event could “cause serious harm to public security.” Police have used this same rationale to attack and detain peaceful protesters around the country.

Unlike many other detainees who shared celebratory photos of a breached wall or civilians on a military jeep, on the morning of October 7, Mr. Hawashleh simply wrote Sabah al-Kheir (“Good Morning” in Arabic) at 8:10 a.m. He later claimed that he was sleeping in the desert and didn’t even hear any news.

Despite the complete innocence of his text, he was detained on October 28 on suspicion of “publishing words praising or encouraging acts of terrorism and identifying with a terrorist organization!” In order to add “context,” the police related to another post from October 15, where Hawashleh shared an old holy Islamic text from the “Hadith.” As could be expected, the hadith, which is attributed to the prophet Muhammad said nothing about Israel or Hamas.