By Ben Warren
bwarren@detroitnews.com
Amer Zahr, a trustee of the Dearborn Board of Education and a Palestinian American comedian and activist, says he was held and questioned by Israeli police after the first of his three comedy shows Friday night in Nazareth.
“After the first show, police took me, they asked some questions,” Zahr said in a video posted Saturday on Facebook, captioned “ARRESTED IN PALESTINE FOR JOKES.” He said, “They asked me some questions about, ‘am I inciting against Israel?’ I said no.”
Zahr had a lawyer “standing outside,” he said, but she was not allowed to enter. He said the police officers told him, “If you incite against Israel, we can detain you for a very long time. It’s called administrative detention.”
In the video, he said the questioning lasted an hour and a half, but he was able to perform his final show.
“When I came back, (the audience) welcomed me with open arms. They didn’t care that they sat around for an hour, and we had a show.”
In an earlier post on Instagram, Zahr said: “I am free from Israeli detention and safe with family in Palestine. Will share more soon. Apparently, comedy is ‘incitement.’”
Zahr was performing at Liwan Cultural Cafe in the Old Market of Nazareth.
Michigan State Rep. Alabas Farhat (D-Dearborn) posted on Facebook on Friday night that Zahr had been arrested.
In the post, Farhat asked the U.S. government to intervene and “immediately guarantee Zahr’s safety.”
Adel A. Mozip, the president of the Dearborn Board of Education, wrote Friday night on Facebook: “This incident is not isolated. There is a well‑documented pattern of systemic mistreatment and discriminatory practices by Israeli police toward Palestinians and Arab individuals.”
Saturday morning, the school district released a statement on its social media pages.
“The Dearborn Public Schools Board of Education has been in contact with Trustee Amer Zahr following his detention in Nazareth on December 26, 2025,” it read. “Trustee Zahr has been released and has issued a public update confirming that he is “free from Israeli detention” and “safe with family.” The Board is thankful for his safety and looks forward to his return to Dearborn. The Board also appreciates the support shown by the community.”
Zahr called the support he received from the Dearborn community “beautiful.” In the Facebook video, he added that Dearborn community members “were doing everything they could to reach out and help.”
After that incident, Zahr was scheduled to perform additional shows in northern Israel and in the West Bank.
“We are not going to stop. We’re going to keep going, telling our story and telling our truth,” he said.
Per his website, Zahr is a comedian, speaker, writer and academic. In 2013, he founded the 1001 Laughs Dearborn Comedy Festival, which he runs annually.
Zahr produced the documentary film “We’re Not White” in 2017, about the effort to create an option for Arab American ethnicity on the U.S. census.
He holds a law degree from the University of Michigan.
