Arab Israeli comedian arrested for making jokes about hostages, October 7 invasion
Rights group accuses police of ‘political persecution’ and suppressing freedom of expression of Arab citizens after police threatened venue owners to cancel Nidal Badarny’s show
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
A comedian was arrested by the police on Monday night on suspicion of “disturbing the public order” due to off-color jokes he made in recent weeks about the October 7 atrocities and the hostages being held by the Hamas terror organizations in Gaza.
Nidal Badarny, an Arab Israeli citizen, was arrested at his home in Haifa at 8 p.m. on Monday and was released by the police without condition five hours later.
His arrest followed weeks of harassment by the police, who intimidated theaters where Badarny was scheduled to perform into canceling his shows, and even phoned the comedian instructing him, apparently unlawfully, not to perform when one theater refused to cancel.
The Adalah legal aid organization, which provides legal representation to Arab citizens and Palestinians under Israeli control, asserted in response to the arrest that the police actions violated the right to freedom of expression as has been upheld by the Supreme Court.
The organization also maintained that the arrest was part of a concerted police policy since the October 7 Hamas-led attack and the subsequent war, in which dozens of Arab Israeli citizens have been arrested for “violating public order” due to comments and participation in public demonstrations which Adalah says constitute protected speech.
The police said in response that Badarny” had been arrested after uploading videos to the internet “with crass comments… which raised a suspicion of a violation of public order.”
In July 2024, State Attorney Amit Aisman said prosecutors had encountered incidents where the police had deliberately opened criminal investigations against citizens on the grounds of “disturbing the public order” to circumvent the police’s obligation to obtain authorization from the State Attorney’s Office to open investigations on the grounds of incitement.
Adalah wrote to the Attorney General’s Office two days ago to complain against the police harassment of Badarny and threatened to file a petition to the High Court of Justice if police seek to prevent Badarny’s upcoming performances in Nazareth and Haifa.
“The police are using arrests as a tool to frighten people and stop them from expressing their opinions freely,” said Adalah Attorney Hadeel Abu Salih.
Abu Salih said she has personally handled some 60 cases in which the police had opened up investigations on grounds of “disturbing the public order” due to various forms of speech and expression, and that not one case resulted in an indictment.
Badarny is a popular Arab Israeli comedian, but his jokes have come under scrutiny after he uploaded videos with jokes about October 7 and the hostages being held by Hamas.
In one performance he joked that Palestinians had proved in October that “Toyotas don’t break down,” referring to the Toyota pickup trucks used by Hamas to break across Gaza’s border with Israel. The terrorists drove the trucks to numerous locations in the western Negev where they perpetrated massacres and other atrocities. The trucks have also featured prominently in the hostage release ceremonies.
In another video, he quipped that the certificates handed to the female surveillance soldiers by Hamas in the cynical displays before their release had been for “completing a pilates course,” based on the tracksuits they were wearing after they were set free.
And in another joke, he said that the Thai workers who were abducted by Hamas were not kidnapped, but rather had thought the Toyota pickup trucks were coming to pick up laborers for a day’s work.
Earlier this month, Channel 13’s Hazinor news program drew attention to Badarny’s comments, which were then picked up by the right-wing Betzalmo legal advocacy organization which filed complaints to the police about the comedian.
In a letter to the Attorney General’s Office on Sunday, Abu Salih said the police had pressured a venue in Haifa to cancel Badarny’s scheduled performance in mid-January. The police admitted to pressuring the venue owners, saying that the performance included “support for the events of the October 7 massacre” and “mocking the hostages,” and that the theater director had been “made aware” of the issue. The performance was later canceled.
“The police notice indicates the police’s desire to illegally censor the content of Mr. Badarny’s show in circuitous ways to persecute the theater owners, and abuse its powers,” Abu Salih wrote.
Following the Haifa incident, performances in Nazareth were also canceled last week after two venues received warning phone calls from the police, and were also threatened with business registration sanctions when their licenses come up for renewal next year, the Adalah lawyer wrote.
When a third venue refused to back down in the face of police threats, the police phoned Badarny and told him not to perform. He then received an SMS from the police telling him he was not permitted to perform, and when Badarny asked what this decision was based on he was told by the officer, “This is not open to debate.”
Badarny ended up canceling the performance to avoid problems for the audience.
“This conduct by the police amounts to an abuse of power for the purpose of political persecution. This conduct is illegal as it violates protected fundamental rights, is done without any authority, and is aimed at censoring freedom of artistic expression when there is no legal or lawful impediment to the performance taking place, and in response to political pressure from far-right activists,” wrote Abu Salih.
Culture and Sport Minister Miki Zohar of the Likud party gave his full backing to the police, saying “Anyone who jokes about the hostages, expresses support for Hamas and the awful massacre of October 7, their place is in jail or Gaza, not on stage.” Zohar said he “praised” the police’s decision to arrest Badarny “in order to halt his incitement.”
MK Ahmad Tibi compared Badarny’s treatment to that of several Jewish musical artists who have made highly inflammatory remarks about Palestinians since the October 7 atrocities.
Singer Ofer Levi said this month that if he were a soldier today “there wouldn’t be hostages” and that “I would kill everyone. And burn too. Give me an order to bring a few liters of gasoline, we’ll pour and light.” Popstar Eyal Golan called a few days after October 7 to “erase Gaza” and “not leave a single person there,” while other Jewish artists have made similar comments.
“[Badarny] did not call to burn Palestinians with gasoline like Ofer Levi, and didn’t make calls for murder as Israeli artists have done recently,” said Tibi.
“At least he didn’t physically attack families of the hostages, curse them, or vote against their return,” added Tibi in reference to right-wing attacks on the families of hostages who are advocating for their release, and the opposition of right-wing parties to the hostage-prisoner release deal with Hamas.
“Black humor can be witty or outrageous – that’s how it is with comedians. But when it comes to Arabs, it turns out that the joke ends very quickly. Jewish singers can call for the burning of Palestinians, but an Arab comedian with black humor? He gets arrested.”
