Israeli police arrest Palestinian bride in her wedding dress

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. 

أعداء الفرح والحياة وكلّ شيء حيّ!
*الاحتلال يختطف عروساً من موكب عرسها في عرابة البطوف بأرضنا المحتلة-٤٨ ويمطر الشارع بوابل من قنابل الغاز
كنت مقهورة حتى شفت العروس ماشية مش فارقة معها…
جدعة يا بنت شعب الأحرار!

الفيديو الأول هنا (١) pic.twitter.com/9NsGNtR9VP

— Katia Nasser كاتيا ناصر (@katyushia2) August 28, 2022

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.

Israel has grown so accustomed to ruin the Palestinians' joy.
Israeli troops abduct a Palestinian bride after raiding her wedding and terrorizing the guests, August 28. pic.twitter.com/HdXcXwr66J

— Palestine Info Center (@palinfoen) August 29, 2022

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.