Former Hadash chairman and former Member of Knesset Mohammad Barakeh was arrested by Israel Police on Tuesday over allegations he incited terrorism during a 2022 rally. A police spokesperson stated that Barakeh gave a speech containing "words of praise and identification with terrorists and terrorist organizations." Following the arrest, Judge Oded Moreno of the Petah Tikva Magistrate Court ordered a 30-day ban on Barakeh entering the West Bank, stating that "a review of the investigation file reveals the existence of reasonable suspicion of the commission of the alleged offense."

Barakeh's defense argued that he made a political speech and that political expression is protected by law. Barakeh refused to be questioned by Ariel police, stating he would "not respond to the occupation police in the Ariel settlement." He appointed the Adalah legal center to represent him. Police took Barakeh's photo and fingerprints and interrogated him for four hours.

The Arab Higher Monitoring Committee accused the police of conducting a "politically provocative" investigation, calling the arrest "another dangerous episode in the series of political persecutions aimed at intimidating the Arab community and deterring it from legitimate political activity and its struggle against the policy of occupation, racism, and political oppression." Ja'far Farah, founder of the Mossawa Center for Arab Civil Rights, stated that this was "an unnecessary arrest for political investigation, for a speech that Baraka gave in 2022, as part of a campaign of police officers' servility to their failed minister, who has been unable to fight organized crime for about four years." Farah also stated that "After his government failed on all fronts, they are trying to create a new front against the Arab public and its leaders in order to prevent their defeat in the elections." Farah was recently elected second on the Hadash list for the Knesset.