A judge in Tel Aviv on Thursday extended by four days the remand of Israel Frey, a journalist who on Tuesday wrote on X that “the world is a better place” following the death of five Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
He was taken to the Tel Aviv District Court for arraignment as the prosecutor’s office prepares to indict him for incitement to terrorism. Frey has denied the charges, saying it was “political persecution.”
The Israel Journalists’ Association, to which Frey does not belong, declined to comment on his arrest. The association protested Frey’s interrogation in March over a previous tweet in which he wrote, “A Palestinian who attacks an IDF soldier or a settler in the apartheid territories is not a terrorist. And this is not a terror attack. He is a hero who struggles against an oppressor for justice, liberation and freedom.”
Prosecutors asked he held in remand over concern that he might try to obstruct the investigation into his actions, Israel Hayom reported. His defense attorney disputed this, noting he came voluntarily to the police to be interrogated, and then was arrested on Wednesday.
Frey arrived in an Israel Prison Service uniform. He will be treated as a security threat for the duration of time in custody, according to Israel Hayom. The prosecution requested he be remanded for a week but the judge deemed this excessive, granting only four days.
DemocraTV, an independent station, fired Frey, a far-left reporter, in November 2022 for saying on X three months earlier that a Palestinian terrorist who intended to kill soldiers, but refrained from harming civilians, was a “hero worthy of a medal.”
Shai Glick, the director of the B’Tsalmo human rights group, which filed a police complaint against Frey, welcomed his remand.
The judge “realized, like the rest of the country, that Mr. Frey is not a legitimate social media user but an inciter to terrorism and a supporter of murdering Israeli soldiers,” Glick told JNS.
He called for the prosecution to file an indictment against Frey swiftly also for previous cases of alleged incitement. “The world is better with Frey locked up,” Glick said.
