Illegal and Violent Conduct of Haifa Municipality Inspectors Against Protesters

Antiwar protest (illustrative). Photo: Orna Naor, Shatil-stok

On June 29, 2025, ACRI approached the Haifa Municipality and police regarding the illegal, violent, and threatening behavior by Haifa Municipality inspectors toward participants in a daily quiet protest to end the war in Gaza and for the return of the hostages. Inspectors photographed each protester separately with their personal mobile phone, without providing a justification for their actions. Through this and other actions, municipality inspectors created a tense and threatening environment, and even explicitly threatened protest participants with physical violence, stating: "these people don't understand until they get beaten up." 

In the appeal, ACRI lawyer Nitsan Ilani and intern Yotam Rotfeld argue that the inspectors acted illegally, without authority, and with while blatantly deviating from established procedures. In so doing, they violated the constitutional rights of the protest participants to privacy, freedom of expression and demonstration, and personal security. The petition emphasizes that the use of personal mobile phones for documentation aggravates the violation, since the activists lose control over the documented material and its distribution. 

It was further emphasized in the appeal that documentation of demonstrators casts law-abiding citizens who are exercising their right to protest as offenders whose actions should be documented, and raises concerns  that the documentation might be used to identify them, harass them, or collect information against them. This conduct also creates a chilling effect that deters citizens from participating in demonstrations, and violates the right to freedom of protest and political expression, which are vital to the existence of a democracy. The petition demands an investigation into the conduct of the inspectors, and that the procedures and guidelines be clarified among all municipality inspectors regarding the limits of their authority, and especially the prohibition against photographing demonstrators and threatening them. 

ACRI's appeal, June 29, 2025 (Heb) 

We have not forgotten: 🛑 Stop the killing and starvation in Gaza 🛑 Stop the abandonment of the hostages 🛑 End the war. Now.