An Israeli court extended the detention of journalist Said Hassanin by two days.

Hassanin, an editor at Nas Radio and who until recently served as an announcer for the Bnei Sakhnin soccer team, was arrested last night following an interview he gave to Hamas's Al-Aqsa Channel. In the interview, according to a report in Haaretz, he said that "the Islamic resistance acted with complete humanity in accordance with Islamic law and proved to the world that Hamas preserves human dignity and respects the women who were taken captive on October 7. Hamas protected them according to religious teachings, Islamic law, and Palestinian conscience."

He also said that the hostage Omer Shem Tov kissed the head of one of the terrorists on stage in Gaza "to prove that they treated him humanely and with respect." According to Hassanin, "Shem Tov respects them as human beings and acknowledges that the female hostages were not harmed. There is a crucial distinction here between those who are barbaric and cruel and those who act humanely according to their doctrine, laws, and Islamic religious principles."

Regarding Palestinian citizens of Israel who enlist in the army, he said: "There are weak-minded individuals who join the army's ranks and serve the enemy's army. Hamas wanted to tell the Palestinians of Historical Palestine called Israeli Arabs, that they do not want them to join the enemy's army, the occupation army, and it's time for anyone who has become weak-minded or is just thinking about joining the occupation army to think a million times about where they're going, how they're selling their conscience, their morals, and their religion on this immoral, irreligious, and non-national path."

This morning, Hassanin was brought before Judge Jenny Tanos at the Acre Magistrate's Court for the extension of his detention. The police suspect him of contact with a foreign agent, publishing praise, sympathy, or encouragement for acts of terrorism, identifying with a terrorist organization and incitement to terrorism, as well as publicly displaying identification with a terrorist organization.

Hassanin's counsel, Attorney Alaa Mahajna, argued that his client did not know that the channel he was interviewed by belonged to Hamas and that it had been outlawed, adding that he merely gave general commentary during the interview and nothing beyond that.

During the questioning, Attorney Mahajna asked the police representative to explain who the foreign agent was that his client was suspected of contacting. "The person he was interviewed by," said the police representative. "If someone from Al-Aqsa station calls me and asks for an interview, is that creating contact with a foreign agent?" wondered Attorney Mahajna. "If the State Prosecutor's Office tells me to investigate you for that, I will investigate," replied the police representative.

The police representative refused to answer most of the defense attorney's questions and referred to a confidential report submitted to the court.

"This is an absurd request with no legal basis, which is an integral part of a campaign conducted by the Israeli police against the Arab public, journalists, artists, politicians, merely for expressing a legitimate opinion even if it is offensive from the perspective of the Israeli public," Attorney Mahajna argued before the court.

"The law is intended to prevent statements that are criminal. Reviewing the transcript presented to the court and having heard the interview, it is clear that the suspect is providing political commentary. He was interviewed by Al-Aqsa station and answered questions asked by the investigators, which he did not know belonged to the Hamas organization and was outlawed. The suspect also explained that this was the first time he was interviewed by them and explained that they asked him to come on for an interview. Beyond that, he had no connection to the station's personnel, and it is impossible to describe a conversation arranging an interview as an offense of contact with a foreign agent.

"This is a request that seeks to send a clear message about the new boundaries of freedom of expression. [...] This is a false arrest and the request should be rejected in all its components, and the suspect should be ordered to be released to his home under any restrictive conditions that the court will determine, especially since this is a 62-year-old man with no criminal record, with a commitment that the suspect will not give interviews."

The police demanded a seven-day extension of detention, but Judge Tanos did not grant them their full request. After noting that the State Attorney had approved the investigation against the journalist, she ruled:

"After reviewing the investigation file, I find that the question of whether these are words of praise or identification with a terrorist organization, words of encouragement or incitement to terrorism, or perhaps an expression of opinion that may not align with the national consensus, will certainly be examined in depth during the continuation of the investigation. At this time, reasonable suspicion regarding the first offense [Contact with a foreign agent, O.P.] and the last offense [Publicly displaying identification with a terrorist organization, O.P.] clearly exists. With the reasonable suspicion established, there is justification for extending the suspect's detention despite his age and lack of criminal record, due to concerns of obstruction of the investigation proceedings."

Hassanin's detention was extended until Friday at 1:00 PM.