Israel is baselessly prosecuting Nasser Nawaj’ah, a Palestinian human rights activist and B’Tselem field researcher

This Thursday (23 February 2023) at 10:00 A.M., a hearing will be held at Ofer military court on an indictment filed by the military prosecution against B'Tselem field researcher Nasser Nawaj’ah, who is being charged with attacking a police officer in September 2021, when settlers entered his village of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills.

The media are invited to cover the first hearing of this trial.

Thursday, 23 Feb. 2023, 10:00 A.M. at Ofer military court (media access must be coordinated with the IDF Spokesperson’s Unit).

Nawaj’ah, one of the leading human rights activists in the southern West Bank, has been targeted for years by the state and by settler organizations, in an attempt to sabotage his work and prevent him from reporting on human rights abuses and the apartheid regime’s policies in the area. That end apparently justifies almost all means: denying permits, summons for ISA (Shin Bet) interrogations, threats and baseless legal proceedings. Just last August, Nawaj’ah was arrested and taken from his home in the middle of the night to an ISA interrogation, in which he was warned to “stop causing trouble” and released with no further action. In March 2021, Nawaj’ah was brought in for a conversation with an ISA officer who introduced himself as “Captain ‘Eid” and warned he was “a threat to the military and sending B'Tselem activists to harass soldiers.”

The village of Khirbet Susiya in the South Hebron Hills, where Nawaj’ah lives, has suffered for years from settlers who harass residents, frequently invade the community and engage in violence with full backing, sometimes actual collaboration, of soldiers. In 2022 alone, B'Tselem documented 10 attacks by settlers in Khirbet Susiya.

B’Tselem Executive Director Hagai El-Ad: “Nasser Nawaj’ah has been with B'Tselem for more than 15 years. His work is widely appreciated throughout the local and international human rights communities. The sole purpose of this baseless indictment, and of all Israel’s direct and indirect actions taken against Nawaj’ah, is to undermine his work and that of our entire organization. B'Tselem and Nawaj’ah will continue to document reality and work to end the regime of occupation and apartheid.”