Arab poet who called for violent attacks against Israelis sentenced to 5 months

An Israeli Arab poet who called for violent attacks against Israelis was sentenced to five months in prison after being convicted of incitement to terrorism.

By: World Israel News Staff

The Nazareth’s Magistrates Court on Tuesday sentenced Israeli-Arab poet Darin Tatour, 36, to five months in prison and six months probation after she was convicted in May of supporting a terrorist organization and inciting to violence.

Tatour was arrested in October 2015 after she posted a poem on social media titled “Resist with me. Resist them.”

“Resist, my people, resist them. / Resist the settler’s robbery / And follow the caravan of martyrs,” she wrote. The “martyrs” are a euphemism for terrorists who die in the attacks.

Tatour posted a clip showing scenes of Palestinian terrorists throwing rocks and firebombs at IDF soldiers with a voiceover of her reading the poem. She publicized this and other posts calling for violent attacks at a time when Israel was facing a wave of stabbings and car-rammings.

Tatour also posted as her Facebook profile picture a photograph of a young female terrorist who was injured by gunfire after she threatened soldiers with a knife in 2015. The photograph was captioned, “I am the next martyr,” referring to the way Palestinians relate to terrorists.

She claimed her poem was misunderstood and that she did not call for violence.

After her sentencing, Tatour said she was not surprised by the verdict.

“I expected prison and that’s what happened. I didn’t expect justice. The prosecution was political to begin with because I’m Palestinian, because it’s about free speech and I’m imprisoned because I’m Palestinian,” she stated after hearing the court’s sentence.

Israel has proven that incitement on social media is a driving force behind terrorism.