Watch: Palestinian crowd sings and dances to Hebrew music near Hebron

A Palestinian crowd sang and danced to Hebrew music by Druze singer Sharif at a wedding near Hebron.

Israeli Druze singer Mike Sharif (photo credit: Ronen Akerman/Wikimedia Commons)
Israeli Druze singer Mike Sharif
(photo credit: Ronen Akerman/Wikimedia Commons)

Social media users expressed outrage after a video was shared of a Palestinian crowd singing and dancing to Hebrew music at a wedding in Yatta near Hebron on Thursday.

Israeli Druze singer Mike Sharif performed at the wedding, with a video on his Facebook page showing him singing the song "Why Not?" with the crowd singing and dancing along.

The video showed Sharif being accompanied to the stage by a large number of security guards.

Some Palestinian social media users and news sites expressed outrage at the video, with commenters on social media writing "shame" and speaking out against the Palestinian Authority and its supporters. Some commenters claimed the concert was an attempt at normalization and linked the event to Fatah supporters.

Sharif is a Druze singer who began performing as a child in the 1980's, with his first album released in 1992.

In 2011, the Palestinian Authority banned Sharif from performing at a New Year's Eve party in Ramallah. The decision to ban Sharif, known as “The Druse Boy,” was taken following strong protests and threats by many Palestinians who oppose “normalization” with Israelis.

The Palestinians were angered at the time by the fact that Sharif was presented as an Israeli and that some of his songs were in Hebrew. Some said it was unacceptable that Israelis songs would be sung in Ramallah on the third anniversary of Operation Cast Lead. Others said they didn’t like the fact that a member of the Druse community, whose sons serve in the IDF, would appear at a party in Ramallah.

Khaled Abu Toameh contributed to this report.