The Nazareth Magistrate’s Court on Thursday convicted Arab poet Dareen Tatour of inciting to violence and supporting a terrorist organization, over her posts on the social networks. Tatour, 36, from Reina, near Nazareth, was arrested two and a half years ago after she published a poem entitled “Resist, My People Resist Them,” and two other publications.
The indictment contains the translation of the poem, which contains the lines: “I will not agree to a peace solution / I will never take down my flag / until I remove them from my homeland.”
Tatour said after the hearing that she did not regret anything and announced that she would appeal the ruling.
Tatour was arrested in October 2015, following the posting of her poem on social networks at a time when the violent stabbing of Jews by Arabs were a daily event.
The indictment alleges that she published on Facebook and YouTube “various publications that contain calls for acts of violence or terror, as well as expressions of encouragement for, praise to and identification with acts of violence or terrorism.”
At first, Tatour denied her connection with the poems, but after replacing her legal representation in November 2016, she admitted to publishing the poem but claimed it had been misinterpreted.
In addition to the poem, Tatour also posted: “Allahu Akbar and Baruch HaShem, the Islamic Jihad declares the continuation of the Intifada throughout the West Bank and its expansion of all of Palestine. We must begin within the Green Line”
The post earned 35 Likes.
Her other post featured a picture of Asra’a Zidan Abed—a resident of Nazareth who was shot and wounded after pulling a knife at the central bus station in Afula—to which Taotur added the inscription “I am the next Shahid.”
A video published by Tatour shows masked men throwing stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli security forces, while the poem is read in the background. It received more than 200 views and several favorable responses.
The prosecution argued that Tatour’s various posts “created a real possibility of inspired individuals committing acts of violence or terror.”