Israeli cops arrest Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus at Christmas party

The Israeli police have arrested a Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus during a raid on a Christmas party in Haifa, said a civil rights monitor. Israeli officers closed an event celebrating Christmas on Sunday, confiscated all equipment, and arrested the Palestinian man dressed as Santa Claus. The police also arrested a DJ and a street vendor. In a video, police can be seen pushing the men to the ground and handcuffing them as bystanders watched.

The Israeli police said in a statement that the man wearing the Santa Claus costume resisted arrest and assaulted an officer.

The Mossawa Center, a rights groups that advocates for Palestinian citizens of Israel, said the police personnel used excess force on the men and that the raid on the music hall was conducted without any legal authority.

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Christmas celebrations were held in Bethlehem for the first time since the war in Gaza started, with marching bands blowing bagpipes through the streets of the birthplace of Jesus. Worshippers attended mass at the church of nativity and children sang carols as the city lit up with celebrations.

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Israeli military kills member of Iran’s Quds Force

Meanwhile, the Israeli military said on Thursday that its forces killed a member of Iran’s Quds Force in Lebanon who had been involved in planning attacks from Syria and Lebanon.

The military identified the man as Hussein Mahmoud Marshad al-Jawhari, calling him a key operative in the force’s unit 840.

He was assassinated in the area of Ansariyeh, the military added in a statement, without giving any further details of his death.

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Al-Jawhari “operated under the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and was involved in terror activities, directed by Iran, against the State of Israel and its security forces,” the statement said.

Lebanon’s state news agency said two people were killed in the Israeli drone strike that targeted a vehicle on a road leading to the Syrian border.

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Israel and Iran fought a brief war in June, and the Israeli military has been carrying out strikes in Lebanon on a near-daily basis in what it says is an effort to stop Iranian-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah from rebuilding.