Ben-Gvir orders Arab educator be arrested for dancing on Oct. 7 on TikTok

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir ordered the arrest of Intisar Hijazi, an Arab Israeli teacher from Nazareth, on Tuesday for uploading a TikTok video of her dancing on October 7, 2023.

According to a police statement, the reason for her arrest was "expressing joy at the October 7 Hamas massacre."

Ben-Gvir shared a photo of Hijazi blindfolded in a police car on X/Twitter.

“Zero tolerance for incitement and supporters of terrorism!” he wrote.

מורה מבי"ס בנצרת העלתה אתמול לרשתות החברתיות תיעוד כשהיא רוקדת לצלילי השיר זמנים טובים על רקע התאריך 7.10.23 העברתי את התיעוד לצוות לטיפול בהסתות ברשת שהקמתי במשטרת ישראל, והיא נעצרה מיידית בביתה שבטמרה.אפס סובלנות להסתה ולתומכי טרור! pic.twitter.com/8kvTVryQsH

— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) October 8, 2024

Education Minister Yoav Kisch further praised the Israel Police for arresting Hijazi, writing on social media that "this is what is expected of them, and this is how they should act against any incitement and support for terrorism."

He added, "For the duration of the investigation, and certainly if she is found guilty, she will never step foot into the education system again."

Why was an Arab Israeli woman arrested for a TikTok dance?

The video, which has since been deleted from TikTok, was uploaded to TikTok on October 7, 2024, and showed the teacher, a 41-year-old Tamra resident who worked at a Nazareth school, spinning in a dress while a song called "Good Times" played. On the screen is the caption, "On this day, 7/10/23." 

שרשור סיפורו של חרטא: 2 שרים כבר רקדו על הריקוד של אינתיסאר חיג'אזי מטמרה מדריכה בקרן קרב, גם המשטרה. הכי עצוב זה שלל כלי התקשורת שפרסמו ואיש לא טרח להקדיש 5 דקות לבדיקה בסיסית. זה הסרטון שלה ולטענת המשטרה פורסם אתמול עם כיתוב בעברית כדי להסית לטרור ולהתסיס דווקא ביום הנורא הזה pic.twitter.com/WIAa1B9ANg

— יוסי מזרחי Yossi Mizrachi (@yosimiz1) October 8, 2024

However, according to Israeli journalist Yossi Mizrachi, this is entirely coincidental. Taking to X/Twitter, Mizrachi noted that the video itself was originally uploaded in the early morning of October 7. The caption on the video uploaded one year later is due to a TikTok feature to repost videos uploaded the same day in the following year. 

Mizrachi further noted that Hijazi had previously shared posts on TikTok mourning her friend Yonat Or, who was killed in Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7.

He further took issue with the fact that police blindfolded Hijazi while arresting her and noted that any arrests for freedom of expression-related crimes such as this would need to be approved by the State Attorney's Office.

The State Attorney's Office said in a statement that it wasn't aware of why the police handcuffed and blindfolded Hijazi while arresting her, Haaretz reported.

In response, Ben-Gvir said, “For some reason, there are those in the State Attorney's Office who still do not internalize the rule of law.”

In a statement, Hijazi's lawyer said her arrest was unjustified, noting that it was entirely devoid of incitement. 

"There's no issue with the video aside from the date," he said, according to Ynet. "No one knew at 7:30 in the morning what happened at Kibbutz Be'eri."