On Instagram these days, Abdel Rahim Haj Yahya is back to documenting his daily activities for his 117,000 followers. It is hard to believe he was released from prison only a few weeks ago, after serving more than two years for social media posts uploaded around the time of the October 7 attacks — one of the harshest punishments imposed on an Israeli citizen for offenses of this kind.

Haj Yahya, a 23-year-old social media influencer from the Palestinian city of Tayibe in central Israel, was arrested on Oct. 10, 2023. In an instant, one of the most prominent online voices among Palestinian citizens of Israel — posting about political developments in the West Bank and Gaza, and distributing gifts to Palestinian children in hospitals and refugee camps — disappeared.

The 27 months that Haj Yahya served in Israeli security prisons left a deep mark on him. He lost about half his body weight, but equally conspicuous was the shift in the content of his social media posts. Since his release, he has not posted about human rights abuses or aid activities for Palestinian children in hospitals and camps; indeed, he now avoids political references altogether. He has learned what is permissible to discuss inside Israel, and what is better left unsaid.

Haj Yahya spoke to +972 Magazine about his arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment, and how the terms of his release are meant to send a clear message about the limits of Palestinian speech.