Israeli police have arrested Nidal Badarna, a Palestinian citizen of Israel, from his home in the city of Haifa, on charges of “mocking” the captives held by Hamas, Al Jazeera reports, according to a legislator and Ynet News.
The arrest on Monday came after Israeli police banned him from performing in Haifa and Nazareth.
The Adalah Palestinian rights centre slammed Israel’s “political persecution” of Badarna, while Palestinian-Israeli legislator Ahmad Tibi accused the police of double standards.
In a post on X, Tibi said Badarna did not call for the burning of Palestinians as Israeli singer Ofer Levi did, and does not call for genocide as Israeli artists routinely do.
“He didn’t physically attack the families of the captives, didn’t curse them, and didn’t vote against their return,” Tibi wrote.
“Black humor can be witty or outrageous – that’s how it is with comedians. But when it comes to Arabs, it turns out that the joke ends very quickly. Jewish singers can call for the burning of Palestinians, but an Arab comedian with black humor? He gets arrested. Sounds like a bad joke. Or maybe something worse,” he added.
