The Mayor of the city of Haifa in northern Israel has banned a Palestinian singer from performing in municipal events after she described the city as being in Palestine.
On Saturday, 31-year-old Palestinian citizen of Israel, Lina Makoul, advertised on her Instagram account her performance at the Fattoush Bar in downtown Haifa, referring to the city as “Haifa, PAL [Palestine]”.
Her invitation was condemned by some figures on Hebrew social media, such as right-wing Palestinian-Israeli influencer, Yoseph Haddad, who called for her Israeli citizenship to be revoked and labelled her a “terror-supporting singer”.
Makoul was also slammed by Haifa’s Mayor, Yona Yahav, who warned the singer in a Facebook post the next day that “you had better get with the program: Haifa is a city in the Jewish democratic state of Israel, and will remain that way forever. Nothing, certainly not you, will change that.”
She added that “music is meant to connect people, and it’s too bad that you use your talent to harm coexistence in the country where you were raised.” Yahav insisted that “as long as I’m mayor, you won’t perform in any municipal setting.”
According to the Times of Israel, the venue Makoul said she would perform at confirmed the performance took place as scheduled, despite the Mayor’s statement. It was then clarified by a city spokesman, however, that the ban imposed on Makoul applies only to performances arranged by the municipality itself, with the city authority being unable to directly ban her from performing at private venues.
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