Israeli police have detained a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus during a raid on a Christmas celebration in the city of Haifa, according to a civil rights monitor.
Christmas Event Shut Down in Raid
The incident occurred on Sunday when officers closed the festive event, confiscated equipment, and made several arrests. Alongside the man in the Santa Claus costume, a DJ and a street vendor were also taken into custody.
Video footage from the scene shows police officers pushing the men to the ground and handcuffing them as bystanders looked on. The Israeli police stated that the individual wearing the festive attire resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.
Claims of Excessive Force and Legal Challenge
The Mossawa Center, an advocacy group for Palestinian citizens of Israel, contested the police's actions. The organisation accused the authorities of using excessive force and claimed the raid on the music hall was conducted without proper legal authority.
This arrest took place as Palestinian communities marked Christmas under the shadow of ongoing Israeli restrictions in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.
Contrasting Christmas Celebrations Amid Conflict
In Bethlehem, celebrations were held for the first time since the war in Gaza began. Marching bands filled the streets, worshippers attended mass at the Church of the Nativity, and the city was illuminated for the occasion.
The scene was starkly different in war-torn Gaza. There, a small Christian community observed its first Christmas since a fragile ceasefire took hold. Christmas trees and decorations provided rare splashes of colour amidst the widespread rubble, a landscape shaped by Israeli bombs which have killed over 70,000 people and destroyed much of the infrastructure.
Despite the holiday, Israeli military actions continued. According to the Palestinian news agency WAFA, Israeli settlers uprooted olive groves near Ramallah, while soldiers stormed homes and confiscated vehicles close to Hebron.
Attacks targeting Christians in the region have been increasing. A report from March documented 32 attacks on church properties and 45 physical assaults on Christians.
In his inaugural Christmas address, Pope Leo condemned the dire humanitarian crisis in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands endure freezing rain in tents and substandard shelters. He drew a parallel to the nativity story, stating God had "pitched his fragile tent" among humanity, and asked how one could not think of "the tents in Gaza, exposed for weeks to rain, wind and cold."
