Israeli police arrest Palestinian bride in her wedding dress

Israeli police arrest Palestinian bride in her wedding dress
The police fired tear gas and stun grenades to cause panic, according to sources, and detained the bride during a wedding ceremony in the city of Arraba in northern Israel.
2 min read
30 August, 2022
The Palestinian bride was detained by Israeli forces during her wedding celebration in Arraba, northern Israel [Getty]

Israeli police broke up a wedding celebration and detained a Palestinian bride during her wedding celebration in Arraba on Sunday, a city in northern Israel, according to reports.

The bride’s lawyer, Shadi Thabbah, said police had wrongly suspected that the groom - who was barred from being in Arraba by a court order - was present. 

A video of Israeli forces arresting the bride is being widely shared on social media. 

The lawyer added that the police held his client for "disrupting the investigation". She has since been released and sentenced to house arrest for five days. 

"I don't understand any investigation that the bride has disrupted, the groom is not there and has not been arrested, so what investigation are the police talking about?" Thabbah told Al-Jarmaq news outlet. 

"The police intimidated the children and women who were present at the party.  There were 150 policemen who broke into the house and when the police saw that the groom was not present they wanted to give legitimacy to their raid on the house, so they arrested the bride and 15 other guests," he added.

Thabbah also said the police used stun grenades and tear gas and caused panic among guests. 

Palestinian citizens in Israel make up around 20 percent of the country’s population. They are routinely raided and harassed by Israel’s security forces, and Adalah, a rights group that advocates for minority rights in Israel, has documented more than 65 laws that discriminate against Palestinian citizens.