When 20 armed police officers stormed Yoav Haifawi’s home in Haifa, Israel, the veteran anti-Zionist activist was unsurprised. The 29 October raid was his second arrest in a week for protesting Israel’s war on Gaza. This time, police detained the 68-year-old and confiscated protest material, refusing him food and diabetes medication. Haifawi began to feel ill and was taken to hospital, where he spent two days handcuffed to the bed, legs bound, before being released without charge.
In 50 years of activism, Haifawi has been detained countless times. But amid Israel’s ruthless bombing of Gaza, he notes that political repression within the country that styles itself as the only ‘democracy’ in the Middle East has intensified.
