Israeli teacher who was locked up and persecuted for opposing war on Gaza speaks up

“They wished me to die, they wished my children to die, they threatened to rape my daughter.”

Meir Baruchin, a 62-year-old Israeli history teacher and anti-war activist, revealed how he was arrested in October and imprisoned in solitary confinement as a “high-risk detainee” in November for “intent to commit an act of treason” and “intent to disrupt public order” after he posted a photo of Palestinians killed by the Israeli army on 7 October in opposition to the war on Gaza.

He had also faced harassment and threats from other Israelis online over the post. When he was released from prison and returned to his school to teach, he was met with a “violent demonstration” from his own students and was forced to barricade himself in the teacher’s room.