Rand Al-Halawani, 20, a resident of East Jerusalem, was arrested this Tuesday on suspicion of publishing inciting content on social media. The Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court ordered her detention extended by three days for further questioning. Following her arrest, her personal social media accounts were removed.
Al-Halawani is a player on Palestine’s women’s national football team, and her arrest has drawn widespread attention across Palestinian and Arab social media. A solidarity campaign was launched under the hashtag #رند_الحلواني (Rand Al-Halawani), calling for her immediate release and presenting her as a symbol of what supporters describe as the “persecution of Palestinian sports in Jerusalem.”
According to Palestinian sources, Al-Halawani was summoned on June 2, 2025, for questioning at the Moriah police station of the Zion Precinct in the Jerusalem District Police, located in the city’s Talpiot neighborhood. Upon arriving at the station, she was arrested on suspicion of publishing inciting posts. According to the same Palestinian sources, most of Al-Halawani’s public posts in recent months focused on national encouragement, photos from Palestine national team matches, and expressions of solidarity with events in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.
Who is Rand Al-Halawani?
A day earlier, Natalie Abu Dayya was arrested in the town of Birzeit, near Ramallah, also on suspicion of incitement. Abu Dayya is a former player on Palestine’s women’s national football team and is currently a communications student at Birzeit University.
Since April 2025, Al-Halawani has been playing, together with her national teammate Miraf Marouf, for the Jordanian club Nashama Al-Mustaqbal. Before that, she played for Diyar Bethlehem, one of the leading and longest-running women’s football clubs in the Palestinian league. She began her career at the East Jerusalem Sports Academy, where she developed and played at youth level while also being called up to Palestine’s girls’ national teams.
She represented Palestine in the girls’ national team at the West Asian Championship, and later advanced to the senior women’s national team of Palestine. Al-Halawani plays in midfield and attacking positions, and is considered one of the prominent talents in Palestinian women’s football.
The Palestinian Football Association, headed by Jibril Rajoub, issued a harsh condemnation following the arrests of the two players. In its view, the arrests constitute “a blatant violation of all values of sport, international laws, conventions, FIFA regulations and the principles of the Olympic Charter, which guarantee freedom of movement, non-discrimination and protection for athletes around the world.”
