Israel arrests Palestinian wedding singer who glorified Halamish attack

Israeli security forces arrested a Palestinian wedding singer overnight Tuesday after he performed a song glorifying the terrorist who fatally stabbed three members of the same family in the Halamish settlement last month.

The IDF confirmed that Mohammed al-Barghouti was detained in his village of Beit Rima, near Ramallah, along with two other members of the band, Naji Rimawi and Nazzal Barghouthi.

The military said it also confiscated the equipment used by the band to record the song.

A video of Barghouti’s band performing the song, which praises Oma al-Abed who carried out the July 21 attack that killed Yosef, Chaya, and Elad Salomon, had been posted on social media.

A fourth man who helped spread the song on the internet was also arrested, the army said.

“I heard the sound of the machine-gun in the Arab village Kobar… It’s Omar who crossed the woods and carried out the operation,” the lyrics say, referring to Abed’s hometown.

“Hey you, who asks about real men, you will find them in Kobar… Omar al-Abed is an earthquake who took revenge on behalf of Al-Aqsa… he came from above the mountains carrying a knife on his side, and when he announced the clash, he made the Zionists lie on the ground… even if they detain my mother and my father, and demolish our home, we will never wear clothes of disgrace,” the song goes according to translation from the Maan Palestinian news agency.

Judah Ari Gross contributed to this report