Maisa Abdel Hadi detained over social media post in Israel

"The police fight against incitement and support for terrorism continues all the time," Israeli police says

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Web Desk
This picture uploaded on March 28, 2020, shows Arab Israeli actor Maisa Abdel Hadi. — Instagram/@maisaabdelhadi
This picture uploaded on March 28, 2020, shows Arab Israeli actor Maisa Abdel Hadi. — Instagram/@maisaabdelhadi

The Israeli police have arrested a renowned Arab Israeli actor Maisa Abdel Hadi over her social media post favouring Palestinian resistance group Hamas for their breaching the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel during their surprise October 7 attack on Israel.  

Police without naming her said in a statement that they arrested an actress and network influencer, resident of the city of Nazareth, on suspicion of expressions of praise [for terror] and hate speech."

"The police fight against incitement and support for terrorism continues all the time," the statement said.

Maisa Abdel Hadi posted pictures of an 85-year-old hostage Yaffa Adar with laughing emojis, with another post showing Hamas forces breaching Israel’s security barrier.

Her co-star Ofer Shechter denounced her post saying: "I’m ashamed of you. You should be ashamed of yourself. You live in Nazareth, act and star in our TV shows and films, and then stab us in the back."

The Arab-Israeli actress is among several others arrested over social media posts highlighting the catastrophe of Israeli brutality.

The Hamas government in Gaza said more than 5,000 people have been killed in Israel's strikes on the coastal territory.

"Let's go Berlin-style," she wrote in a caption referring to the fall of the Berlin Wall that stood tall separating two Germanys until 1989.

"She is accused of supporting terrorism," her attorney Jaafar Farah, who is also the director of the human rights association Mousawat, told AFP.

The 37-year-old actress played in several series, films, and plays.

Arab Israeli singer Dalal Abu Amneh was also briefly detained this week over one of her social media posts.

A picture taken from Israels southern city of Sderot shows smoke billowing during an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. — AFP
A picture taken from Israel's southern city of Sderot shows smoke billowing during an Israeli airstrike on the northern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. — AFP

According to rights campaigners and Israeli police, members of Israel's Arab minority and Palestinians in east Jerusalem have been fired, expelled from colleges and arrested over comments expressing solidarity with Gaza residents since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli Arabs comprise a fifth of Israel's population.

Record people martyred in one day

Israeli airstrikes on already ruined Gaza martyred at least 700 people in the last 24 hours — marking it the highest since the start of the siege of the city where streets and hospitals become cemeteries and morgues.

United Nations agencies made an urgent plea for unrestricted emergency aid to enter Gaza, stressing that the current delivery levels were inadequate to support the Palestinian population affected by the relentless Israeli bombardment.

Palestinians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. — AFP
Palestinians look for survivors amid the rubble of a building hit in an Israeli air strike in Khan Yunis on the southern Gaza Strip on October 24, 2023. — AFP

The occupied military claimed to have struck more than 400 Hamas fighters targets, resulting in the deaths of numerous fighters.

Physicians in the war-torn Gaza Tuesday reported that alongside the war-wounded hundreds of patients are pouring into hospitals with symptoms of illnesses resulting from severe overcrowding and inadequate sanitation conditions in the shelters.

This situation has arisen as a consequence of over 1.4 million individuals seeking refuge in temporary shelters due to the most intense airstrikes.

Numerous humanitarian organisations have consistently raised concerns about a looming public health crisis in this densely populated Palestinian region.

Israel told everybody living in the northern half of the 45km-long Gaza Strip to move south but its strikes have flattened districts throughout the enclave.

With all hospitals running out of fuel to power their generators, doctors have warned that critical equipment, like incubators for newborns, risk stopping.

The Hamas-run Health Ministry said 40 medical centres had suspended operations at a time when the bombardment and displacement are putting increased stress on the system.