One interview.
— Adalah, part of his defense team
Abed Abu Shehadeh
The Arab48 podcast host interviewed Azmi Bishara, a former member of Israel’s parliament, in Doha.
Israeli police and the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal intelligence service, arrested Abu Shehadeh at his home in Jaffa on the night of Nov. 3.
He was released from custody five days later. No charges were filed, The Jerusalem Post reports.
Adalah, which Al Jazeera English describes as part of his defense team, said on Nov. 4 that “Abed Abu Shehadeh’s interrogation and detention concern a single interview,” The Jerusalem Post reported. The words on the cover are the newsletter’s short form of that count; the quotation is Adalah’s, as The Jerusalem Post printed it.
The Times of Israel reported on Nov. 4 that Abu Shehadeh hosts the Arab48 news site’s podcast Al-Midan, and that he “traveled to Doha over a week ago to interview Bishara for Arab48.” His defense lawyers say the foreign agent named in the suspicion is Azmi Bishara, a former member of Israel’s parliament, the paper reported. Al Jazeera English wrote that he was arrested “after taking part in an interview in Qatar with the Palestinian intellectual Azmi Bishara.”
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) says Israeli police and the Shin Bet, “the country’s internal intelligence service,” arrested him at his home in Jaffa on the night of Nov. 3. The Jerusalem Post reported that the Shin Bet and Israel Police “arrested Abu Shehadeh at his Jaffa home overnight,” with a court hearing on Wednesday, Nov. 4. His family said about 15 security personnel took part in the raid, The Times of Israel reported.
On Nov. 8, The Jerusalem Post reported that he “was released from custody five days after being arrested by the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and Israel Police” over suspected contact with a foreign agent, and that “No charges were filed against Abu Shehadeh.” Haaretz reported that he was released on Sunday without appearing in court, after police and the Shin Bet security service decided not to seek an extension of his detention. The Times of Israel reported that police chose not to challenge his release, so a second remand hearing was cancelled.
Upon his release, he described his detention as “wrongful” and “completely baseless,” The Jerusalem Post reported. Adalah said police raised no other allegations during his questioning, the paper reported. Reports differ on the conditions of his release, so none are given here.