In a ruling handed down in April 2014, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a writer’s appeal of a district court decision, which included a ban against the publication and distribution of his novel. In effect, the court ordered that the book be shelved, after it had already been published, printed …

A lack of female performers, the siege and close monitoring by the Hamas government has resulted in a dwindling Gaza theatre industry, reported Al Monitor. Hanouna said that the theater’s decline began about eight years ago, “when artists started self-censoring their work and thinking of the ruling authorities and their …

Gaza artist Majida Shaheen has been threatened for drawing a cartoon that ‘demonized’ Islamic Jihad. When Majida Shaheen on 22 January 2013 drew and published a cartoon on her Facebook page depicting Gaza Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh trying to tame an angry dog with the name “Al-Quds Brigades” — the …

Drummer Samer Jaradat was arrested by Israeli police at a checkpoint on the road between Nazareth and Jericho. Police claimed that his papers weren’t in order. “From all what we know, there was nothing wrong with his papers,” told Steinar Larsen, the director of Trondheim Soloists whom Samer Jaradat was …

Video interview with rapper Khaled Harara from Palestine who the Swedish city of Gothenburg has announced will be offered a ‘safe city’ residency for two years. In April 2013, the 26-year-old rapper Khaled Harara came to the Freemuse secretariat in Copenhagen. Having toured Denmark, he was afraid of returning to …

Oday Khatib, an acclaimed Palestinian singer from the Ramallah-based Al Kamandjati music school, has been released after three months in prison for allegedly throwing stones at Israeli soldiers. This was reported by Sandy Tolan and Anan Abu-Shanab of Alkamandjati Association on 6 June 2013. Oday Khatib is a singer who …

Lebanese authorities have banned the award-winning film ‘The Attack’ from cinemas in the country because it was partly shot in Tel Aviv using Israeli actors. “I regret to inform you that the Interior Minister of Lebanon, Minister (Marwan) Charbel, has decided to punish us and the film by banning it… …

On 26 February 2013, the Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Limor Livnat called on Israeli filmmakers to exercise “self-censorship” and refrain from producing movies that cast aspersions on Israel and “libel it throughout the world.” In response, this brought out an editorial in Haaretz, a leading Israeli newspaper, which labeled …

Zakaria Zubeidi, theatre director and one of the founders of the Freedom Theatre in Jenin, Palestine, was released on 1 October 2012. He has been detained in a prison in Jericho since 13 May 2012, most of the time without charges. Zubeidi was detained during a wave of raids and …

The international film festival ‘Through Women’s Eyes’ is held every two years and crumbles under the weight of censorship, reported SK Eyes Media on 30 August 2012. “Not only do the censors target this festival, they also view all movies screened during any public gatherings and other festivals in the …