Ziad “Zizo” Abul Hawa, 29, is a former resident of Jerusalem who moved to Tel Aviv about ten year ago. He is a prominent Facebook personality, works as a system analyst in a large high-tech company and is a vocal supporter of LGBTQ rights and Israeli-Palestinian coexistence.
On Tuesday Abul Hawa found out that someone had spread a message about him on Facebook and WhatsApp, which read, "A message from the Shin Bet: A terrorist is currently in Tel Aviv, seen in the picture above, trying to kill Jews!!!
"Anyone spotting him must contact the police immediately. A person carrying a firearm may arrest him until security forces arrive."
The message was seen by thousands of people. Abul Hawa filed a complaint with the police. On Wednesday he said, "Whoever did it is trying to scare me. They must not like the idea of an Arab living among Israelis.
"They tried to harm coexistence; that’s what scares racists the most. They must not have liked that I write in Hebrew, live peacefully in Israeli society and promote coexistence, so they tried to get me scared to walk outside."
Though, in spite of this, Abul Hawa took it in stride, posting a picture of himself on Facebook wearing a blonde wig, saying "I'm going undercover to walk my dogs. Hope I will return. Will update soon."
This is not the first time racism against Abul Hawa made headlines. In 2015 he was thrust into the local media spotlight when he discovered that one of his neighbors wanted to get him evicted from his Tel Aviv apartment because she didn’t think it was safe to have an Arab in the building.
The neighbor, who still has not been identified, left an unsigned note pinned to the notice board in the lobby of his building, calling for an assembly of the building's residents.
Abul Hawa, as usual, joked about it, posting on facebook “Yeah! I’m coming with mulukhiya muffins.”