‘It is pure vengeance’: Israel’s cruel detention of Maysoun Masharqa

Twenty-two days in solitary confinement. No charges. No trial. No family visits. No access to medication for chronic illness. This is the reality of 54-year-old Maysoun Mahmoud Masharqa’s detention in Israel’s Damon Prison. A nursery school director from Hebron, Masharqa has endured months of incarceration under conditions that amount to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. All because she liked a post on social media.

Her case is emblematic of a broader policy that has come under sustained international criticism: Israel’s use of administrative detention. Under this system, Palestinians can be imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial, based on secret evidence withheld even from the detainee’s lawyer. 

More than 10,000 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including approximately 3,600 detained without charge or trial under the administrative detention system, according to a recent report by a prisoners’ affairs group.

Maysoun was seized from her home in April during a violent pre-dawn raid. According to a Human Rights Report compiled following a documented visit to Damon Prison, Israeli occupation forces stormed her house without presenting any formal charges.

The ostensible reason for her arrest was her online activity, which, her husband Zein Al-Din Mahmoud told MEMO, was nothing more than liking a post on social media, a post featuring a child behind glass with a caption offering words of resilience and hope. Israeli authorities claimed it amounted to incitement. No formal charges have been brought to date.

Maysoun’s case is not isolated. In 2022, Israeli authorities arrested 410 Palestinians, including women, children, journalists, and activists, for merely expressing opinion online, according to a report by the Palestine Centre for Prisoners Studies. A dedicated “Vigilance Unit” monitors Palestinian social media and flags “incitement”.

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Following her arrest, Maysoun was initially held at a military facility in Kiryat Arba, an illegal Israeli settlement built on occupied Palestinian land, notorious for settler violence and its role in enforcing Israel’s military presence in Hebron. She was then transferred to the Al-Moskobiya interrogation centre in Jerusalem, a site long criticised by human rights groups for its abusive interrogation practices and harsh conditions. There, she was held for 42 days, including 22 in solitary confinement. After a brief stop at Hasharon Prison—used primarily as a transit centre for Palestinian women—she was moved to Damon Prison near Haifa, where she remains incarcerated.

This is an image of one of the social media posts Maysoun Mahmoud Masharqa liked according to Zein al-Din Mahmoud.

Conditions in Damon Prison are widely documented as abusive. Female prisoners, including Maysoun, face overcrowding, poor ventilation, and an acute shortage of basic hygiene items. Only two small bars of soap are distributed weekly to rooms housing seven detainees. Access to sanitary pads, underwear and proper clothing is limited or denied altogether. Inmates are forced to make their own prayer garments out of bedsheets, a degrading process mockingly referred to as the “Damon national industry.”

Medical neglect is pervasive. Maysoun suffers from rheumatism and chronic chest allergies, yet has received no adequate treatment. The prison’s unsanitary conditions have contributed to the spread of skin infections. Meanwhile, families are not allowed to visit or send clothing, medicine or food, deepening the isolation and suffering of those detained.

Speaking to MEMO, Maysoun’s husband, Mahmoud—a practising lawyer of nearly 40 years—described the trauma endured by the family. “A heavily armed force of police and border guards stormed our home using violence and intimidation,” he said. “They broke doors, smashed bedroom cabinets, assaulted us physically, and gathered the entire family in one room under threat of live fire. Then they took Maysoun away without any explanation.”

He dismissed the Israeli claim that she had engaged in incitement. “According to the military orders, the charges are based on social media posts allegedly supporting a hostile organisation and inciting violence. But these were normal posts—Qur’anic verses, literary reflections, and emotional content shared by many people across various platforms,” Mahmoud said. “There is nothing criminal in what she posted.”

The impact on their seven children has been devastating. “The children, especially the younger ones, have been hit hardest. The trauma is ongoing. We struggle every day to maintain some semblance of normalcy. Our daily life has been turned upside down, there is no peace, no rest. I manage the household, care for the children, run Maysoun’s nursery, and maintain my legal practice. It is an unbearable burden,” he told MEMO.

He added that Maysoun’s 98-year-old mother was shattered by the arrest. “She was struck like lightning when she heard the news. She cries constantly. Maysoun is her youngest and most cherished daughter. Her grief is profound and unrelenting.”

All attempts to secure Maysoun’s release have been thwarted. “We challenged the arrest several times. Once, a military court even ordered her release on bail, 15,000 shekels, with two guarantors for the same amount. But the military prosecution appealed, and the decision was overturned. All court proceedings happen remotely. Maysoun is not even allowed to be present,” Mahmoud explained.

Mahmoud believes the real reason for her arrest is to instil fear. “The real motive is to terrify the public, to punish Palestinians for expressing sympathy with Gaza, for mourning the killing and destruction, for speaking out. It is pure vengeance. They are trying to silence every Palestinian voice.”

“This case has been the most difficult I’ve faced,” Mahmoud added. “I’ve never felt so powerless. It is an overwhelming injustice. Our children know this can happen to any Palestinian, anytime, for no reason. But we also believe in our right to speak, to live, to resist oppression. We live with hope—hope that Maysoun will be released, and that justice will prevail.”

Mahmoud concluded with a call to the international community: “I urge the international community to support the Palestinian people without embarrassment or half-measures. We are human beings. We seek the freedom and dignity that international law promises us. He also had a message for human rights organisations: “Move beyond statements. Practice your mandates on the ground. The laws meant to protect us are being ignored. If humanitarian law has any meaning, let it apply to Palestine too.”

Masharqa’s case reflects the harsh reality of Israel’s use of administrative detention: a policy that allows the imprisonment of Palestinians without charge, often for nothing more than a Facebook interaction. Her continued incarceration, without due process or access to medical care, is a stark example of how this system functions as a tool of intimidation and cruelty, designed for no purpose other than to humiliate and dehumanise Palestinians.

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The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.