Israel police mistakenly arrest Palestinian man for writing ‘good morning’ on Facebook

A Palestinian man who posted “good morning” in Arabic on Facebook was arrested after Israeli police mistakenly translated his message as “attack them”.

The man, who has not been named, posted a picture of himself working on a construction site in the West Bank settlement of Beitar Ilit near Jerusalem.

Alongside the photo, which shows the worker leaning against a bulldozer, he wrote: “Good morning.”

Yet the automatic translation service offered by Facebook, which uses its own proprietary algorithms, translated the words to mean “attack them” in Hebrew and “hurt them” in English.

The police were notified and arrested the man on suspicion of incitement, but he was released after a few hours once the mistake was realised.

No Arabic-speaking officer was consulted before the arrest was made.

The Judea and Samaria District police confirmed the details and said a mistake in translation was made, which led to the mistaken arrest, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported.

Officials were reportedly suspicious as the Facebook post contained a photo of a bulldozer, a vehicle used as a weapon in attacks in previous years, the publication said.