On November 30, at around 4:00 am, the parents of 23-year-old Alaa Shahade were asleep when the Israeli internal security service, the Shin Bet, knocked on their door in a small town near Nazareth. The agents were bringing their daughter home from prison. She had been imprisoned since November 19 for posting four messages on Instagram on October 7, sharing images of the deadly Hamas attack on Israeli territory. Her family had been informed the day before that she was on the list of prisoners that Israel had exchanged for Israeli hostages held in Gaza by Hamas. Shahade only learned the reason for her release when she arrived home.

Of the 240 prisoners released from Israeli jails under this agreement, which was interrupted by the resumption of fighting on December 1, 13 have a profile similar to hers: Palestinian women, Israeli citizens, relatively young (between 21 and 46), arrested for expression-related offenses on social media which, according to the courts, constitute support for terrorism. Two other women are being prosecuted for slogans shouted during protests.

None of the 15 women was invited to take part in the agreement with Hamas, nor were their lawyers or parents. None have been tried, and some have not even been formally charged. It was only on November 28 that the government decided to extend the list of 300 Palestinian prisoners potentially eligible for release to include 50 more Palestinian women.

"This is the first time in the history of negotiated exchanges between Israel and armed groups that we are talking about mere suspects," said Shahade's lawyer, Sawsan Zaher, adding that not all the families appreciated this initiative in the same way. "Some felt that it was more urgent to get their daughter back and avoid years of legal proceedings, others felt that the arrests were legally questionable and could have been challenged in court, thus avoiding being associated with Hamas."

Traumatized by this experience, Shahade, as her lawyer put it, does not know whether she will be able to return to her university institute in Nof HaGalil. Living in a small Arab town, she has not been harassed by her neighbors or assaulted, unlike other young women who have been freed. But on social media, hatred erupted. On the same day, she had removed the four posts about the Hamas incursion into Israel from her Instagram account. "She didn't post anything else until she was arrested at 3:00 am on November 19 by an anti-terrorist unit," explained her lawyer.

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