Police said they arrested three people during a Christmas celebration in the northern city of Haifa last weekend after what they described as disturbances and assaults on officers, rejecting claims by an Arab rights group that the event was dispersed violently.
The arrests drew international attention after the Mossawa Center, an advocacy group for Arab citizens of Israel, said police detained a man dressed as Santa Claus during the festivities. The group’s claim was echoed in international media reports under headlines such as “Israel arrested the Palestinian Santa Claus.”
Footage from Haifa
(Photo: Section 27A of Israel’s copyright law)
Police said the incident took place Sunday during the annual “Holiday of Holidays” festival in Haifa and was related to noise enforcement. In a statement, police said suspects attempted to disrupt officers’ work, attacked them, hurled insults, issued threats and resisted arrest.
According to a report published by The Guardian, British police shut down a Christmas event in Haifa, confiscated equipment and arrested a man dressed as Santa Claus along with a DJ and a vendor. The newspaper said video footage not included in the article showed officers pushing men to the ground and handcuffing them as bystanders watched.
Mossawa alleged that Haifa police dispersed the celebration using violence and that officers assaulted Arab revelers. Among those detained was a man who identifies himself as “Papa Noel,” who was arrested inside his family’s shop while dressed as Santa Claus. Local residents said he had been handing out holiday gifts.
Jafar Farah, director general of the Mossawa Center, said police entered a music school on Allenby Street and halted the celebrations. He said authorities decided to reopen streets earlier than the time previously announced and that police motorcycles, along with municipal inspectors, stopped a band from dancing in the street. Farah alleged that officers violently assaulted three young men in Emil Habibi Square in front of their parents.
Mossawa said testimonies it collected claimed police continued to beat detainees inside patrol vehicles. The three suspects were questioned early Monday morning, transferred to the Kishon detention facility and later brought before a judge at the Haifa Magistrate’s Court. The judge ordered their release to house arrest, which ended Monday.
The Guardian article also cited claims that attacks by Israelis targeting Christians are on the rise, saying a report published in March documented 32 attacks on church property and 45 physical assaults against Christians. The article did not specify who authored or published the report.
Police strongly denied allegations of misconduct. “To set the record straight and prevent misleading the public, we clarify that this was a noise enforcement incident during the Holiday of Holidays festival in Haifa,” the police statement said. It added that due to the severity of the suspects’ behavior, officers used what it described as measured and proportionate force to complete the arrests.
Police said the three suspects were arrested on suspicion of assaulting officers, obstructing police duties and disorderly conduct and were brought before a court. “The police categorically reject claims of violence and stress that officers acted lawfully and in accordance with procedures,” the statement said.