Israel Prison Service (IPS) guards have been accused of threatening to tattoo a Star of David onto the face of an anti-war protester who was arrested at a demonstration in Tel Aviv Sunday.
Itamar Greenberg, 19, from Bnei Brak, said that while waiting for his court hearing Monday morning, “Israeli prison guards drew ‘Am Yisrael Chai!’ (‘The Jewish nation lives!’) and an Israeli flag on a sweater,” and made him wear it.
“[The guards] took a photo, and told me that next time I’m arrested, they’ll tattoo a Star of David on my face,” wrote Greenberg on X later that evening, after he was released from custody.
Greenberg was forcefully arrested while blocking a road as part of an anti-war demonstration near Azrieli Junction in central Tel Aviv. He was questioned at the Lev Tel Aviv police station on suspicion of taking part in an illegal gathering, then held overnight at Glilot police station.
Police had brought him to the Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court on Monday morning seeking to keep him behind bars for three more days, but were denied by the court.
Upon seeing the Israeli flag shirt Greenberg was made to wear to his hearing, the presiding judge requested that the matter be brought to the attention of a more senior official in the IPS.
This morning, while waiting for a court hearing, Israeli prison guards drew “Am Yisrael Chai!” (“The Jewish nation lives!”) and an Israeli flag on a sweater, forced me to wear it, took a photo, and told me that next time I’m arrested, they’ll tattoo a Star of David on my face. https://t.co/fakMmR5tWr pic.twitter.com/LDXCEYPOMR
— איתמר גרינברג Itamar Greenberg (@itamar_green) May 26, 2025
Greenberg said that guards cursed him ahead of his hearing that morning after noticing his shirt, which read, “No to war, yes to peace,” in Hebrew and Arabic.
“They said we [the anti-war protesters] are leftists, terrorists, and enemies from within, and decided I wasn’t going into the cell with that shirt,” he told Haaretz.
Ramzi Ktilat, the attorney representing Greenberg, told the outlet the incident was “an attempt to humiliate detainees who… do not support the war.”
Responding to the claims, the IPS told Haaretz that Greenberg “was asked to change his shirt, which had Arabic writing on it, for his own personal safety and to prevent friction with other detainees” in the courthouse holding cells.
Nevertheless, the IPS added that “the matter would be thoroughly examined.”
“If it is found that the incident indeed occurred — disciplinary action will be taken accordingly,” the agency told Haaretz.
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