Actress Maisa Abd Elhadi identifies herself as a Palestinian citizen of Israel - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 1, 2022
Image of an injured woman is being shared on social media claiming that she’s an Israeli actress and was shot by Israeli troops for supporting an enemy country. Let’s verify the claim made in the post.
Claim: Israeli actress shot by Israeli troops for supporting the enemy country.
Fact: The injured women seen in the viral image is Palestinian actor Maisa Abd Elhadi from Nazareth City of Israel. She openly identifies herself as Palestinian. She was injured while staging a protest against the alleged forceful expulsion of several Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem. Nazareth is the focal point of Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. Majority of these Arabs living in Israel identify themselves as Palestinian by Heritage/Nationality and Israeli by Citizenship. Hence the claim made in the post is MISEADING.
Reverse image search of the viral image led us to Deccan Herald’s article from May 2021 featuring the same image.
As per the report, Palestinian actor Maisa Abd Elhadi was injured while staging a protest against the alleged forceful expulsion of several Palestinian families from their homes in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem. Taking a cue from this, we looked at Elhadi’s Official Instagram account. In the bio, she identified herself as ‘Palestinian Actress from Nazareth’. It is to be noted that even though Nazareth is an Israeli city, according to Reuters, Nazareth is the focal point of Israel’s Arab minority, which comprises mainly descendants of the Palestinians who remained after the 1948 Arab-Jewish war that surrounded the creation of the state of Israel. The integration of those who remained in what became Israel – some of whom openly identify as Palestinian – is a subject of debate within the country. As per the New York Times, Majority of the these Arabs living in Israel identify themselves as Palestinian by Heritage/Nationality and Israeli by Citizenship.
Additionally, in an interview, Maisa Abd Elhadi called herself a ‘Palestinian’. More about Israel-Palestine conflict can be read here.
To sum it up, the injured actress Maisa Abd Elhadi identified herself as Palestinian, even though she lives in Israel.