Israeli police try to cancel Palestinian rapper Tamer Nafar concert mid-show... and fail

Israeli police tried to shut down the Christmas show of Palestinian rap star Tamer Nafar in northern Israel on Sunday, claiming "his rap is an incitement against the state of Israel”. 

Nafar, rapper and co-founder of the veteran hip-hop group, DAM, continued with his concert in Kafr Yassif. 

"You can't stop the truth," said Nafar, speaking after the concert which Israeli police failed to shut down. 

DAM has been at the forefront of the Palestinian hip-hop scene since they formed in 1998, writing socially conscious lyrics about daily life under occupation and growing up as a Palestinian in Israel. 

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Tamer Nafar (@tamer_nafar)

Nafar has become a target of discrimination and protests in Israel for his music and message of Palestinian liberation before. 

In 2016, hundreds of Israeli nationalists protested outside the rapper's concert in Haifa, as Nafar performed to a crowd of several hundred Palestinian citizens of Israel. 

Despite the protests, and threats from then-culture minister Miri Regev to shut the concert down, Nafar made sure the show went ahead. 

In 2019, the co-founder of DAM also made a direct foray into Israeli politics, urging Palestinians with the right to vote in Israeli elections to do so despite calls from others to boycott the process.