Police arrested journalist Israel Frey in Tel Aviv on Wednesday on suspicion of incitement to terrorism after he stated that “the world is a better place” after five Israel Defense Forces soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
“We have a zero-tolerance policy on incitement, and we are looking into the tweet by Israel Frey, who has already been arrested twice by police but unfortunately has not been indicted,” a ministry official told JNS on Tuesday. Frey was taken for interrogation, according to the Walla news site.
The attorney general had ordered a criminal investigation into Frey’s actions in connection with the tweet, Israel Hayom reported on Tuesday.
Frey wrote on X earlier on Tuesday: “The world is a better place this morning, without five young men who participated in one of the most brutal crimes against humanity.” He was commenting on a news article about the death of the five IDF troops in Gaza.
“This is a call to every Israeli mother: do not be the next to receive your son in a coffin as a war criminal. Refuse,” Frey added.
Frey has been under police investigation since March, when he was arrested for praising a would-be terrorist who was apprehended before he could carry out an attack against Jews.
“A Palestinian who harms an IDF soldier or a settler in the apartheid territories is not a terrorist. And it’s not a terror attack. He is a hero who struggles against an oppressor for justice, liberation and freedom,” wrote Frey, who has more than 100,000 followers on the social media platform. He previously worked at DemocraTV, but was dismissed following the March post.
He has been arrested twice on suspicion of incitement, “but the state attorney is dragging its feet, meaning he’s free to continue,” the ministry official told JNS. “But we will look again into holding him accountable also for the latest tweet.”
Frey did not reply to a request for comment by the time of publication. He wrote on X before his arrest that the legal action against him was “political persecution” that would not deter him from advocating “letting go of Gaza.”
Shai Glick, the director of B’Tsalmo, a conservative human rights group, filed a new complaint against Frey with the police and sent a letter to the attorney general’s office. In the complaint, B’Tsalmo argued that Frey’s post violated two laws: one against celebrating terrorism and another against encouraging draft dodging.
“Authorities are not stopping Frey, and he has a free hand to escalate his extremism,” Glick told JNS. “In truth, if Frey were an Arab citizen, he would have been reined in. But he’s not, so he’s allowed to incite in this manner. This is wrong. Any supporter of terrorism, Jewish, Muslim or otherwise, needs to answer to the law, which has robust remedies,” he added.
Frey responded on X to critics, including those on the left, who accused him of crossing a line by disrespecting the grief of the families of the fallen soldiers.
“The sanctity of the bereaved is the greatest generator of bereavement,” he wrote on X. “If, instead of offering condolences to war criminals, we had condemned them, tens of thousands of children would still be alive beyond the fence.” He added, “The consensus around the uniform is the membership card of fascism. Refuse. Resist.”
Israel’s Journalists’ Association defended Frey in March, condemning his arrest and the news that he would be prosecuted. Frey is not a member of the association, a spokesperson told JNS on Tuesday. The association declined to comment on its stance on the new complaints against Frey.
