Court holds Jaffa journalist Abed Abu Shehadeh four more days

About 15 security personnel came to the Jaffa home of Abed Abu Shehadeh (also spelled Abou Shahadeh) during the night and arrested him without giving a reason, his family told The Times of Israel. The Shin Bet and Israel Police made the arrest overnight, The Jerusalem Post reported.

The suspected offense is contact with a foreign agent. Police asked the Tel Aviv Magistrate's Court for eight more days in custody. Judge Shelly Kotin granted four, until Sunday, after finding reasonable suspicion and a risk that he could obstruct the investigation, according to the Post. The court lifted a gag order on the case the same day.

Abu Shehadeh hosts Al-Midan, the flagship podcast of the Arab48 news site, and once sat on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa city council. The judge noted that he holds no Government Press Office card and had described himself under interrogation as a political consultant.

His lawyers say the foreign agent in question is Azmi Bishara, a former member of the Knesset, whom Abu Shehadeh traveled to Doha to interview for Arab48 over a week before his arrest. They argue Bishara is not necessarily a foreign agent as the law defines one.