FBI Agents Visit Oklahoma Muslim Woman Over Pro-Palestinian Social Media Posts
On March 19, 2024, three FBI agents visited the home of Rolla Abdeljawad, a Muslim political lecturer in Stillwater, Oklahoma, to question her about her social media posts supporting Palestinian rights. She filmed the encounter, which went viral; her attorney called the visit an act of intimidation targeting protected First Amendment speech.
On March 19, 2024, three FBI agents appeared at the home of Rolla Abdeljawad, a Muslim American political lecturer in Stillwater, Oklahoma, stating they had been provided 'screenshots' of her social media posts by Facebook and wished to discuss them. Abdeljawad filmed the encounter on her phone; the video went viral after her attorney, Hassan Shibly, posted it online. One agent, in a separate encounter captured on video, stated that the FBI questions people about social media posts 'every day, all day long.' Abdeljawad declined to speak with agents without her attorney present. The Council on American-Islamic Relations reported that her case was one of several documented FBI visits to Muslim Americans over social media posts expressing solidarity with Palestinians following the October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel and the subsequent Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Civil liberties advocates argued the visits constituted government surveillance of and intimidation against speech clearly protected by the First Amendment.