The phrase “Muhammad is the Messenger of God” is a fundamental pillar of Islam and must not be subject to criminalization.
MP Ayman Odeh appeals to Isaac Herzog, President of Israel: “We must firmly oppose the escalating police racism that has intensified during the war.”
Police in Petah Tikva arrested an Arab pharmacist from Jerusalem last Monday evening after a customer reported him for wearing a ring inscribed with the phrase “Muhammad is the Messenger of God.”
It should be emphasized that the police provocatively raided the Super-Pharm branch in Petah Tikva, specifically targeting Arab employees for investigation. They subsequently arrested Moataz Alian, the pharmacist, accusing him of supporting ISIS solely based on the inscription on his ring. This blatant misunderstanding of the Islamic declaration of faith highlights the inherent racial bias in the arrest, despite Alian’s explanation of its religious significance.
Alian, still in his work uniform, was led out in front of his colleagues with his hands and feet shackled. The police issued an inflammatory statement about his arrest, which was quickly disseminated to the media.
The Mossawa Center condemned the police’s continued suppression of freedom of expression within the Arab community, noting that these actions occurred without legal authorization from the Public Prosecution. Recent efforts by the police aim to amend the law to enable the arrest and prosecution of citizens without prior approval from the Public Prosecution—a proposal currently under review by the Knesset’s Constitution Committee, dominated by the far-right.
In a letter addressed to the President, MP Ayman Odeh, leader of the Joint List and the Arab List for Change, stressed that the police’s racism, exacerbated by the far-right influence of figures like Ben Gvir, has reached the point of criminalizing one of Islam’s core tenets. He warned that this arbitrary and discriminatory arrest of young Arabs could lead to further unrest. Odeh called for decisive action to confront the police’s policies and their ingrained racial biases.
He further commented: “The ruling establishment’s racism has seeped into the police force, and the brutality of the Israeli war machine is visible in the unjust arrests of Arab citizens, targeting expressions of Islamic, Arab, or political identity. We will not allow the phrase ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of God’—or any other religious expression representing a person’s identity—to be criminalized.”
