| Maisa Abd Elhadi | |
| Birth Date: | 15 November 1985 |
| Birth Place: | Nazareth, Israel |
| Occupation: | Actress, Hydrotherapist |
| Education: | Wingate Institute |
| Awards: | "Best Actress" Award at the Dubai Film Festival |
Maisa Abd Elhadi (ar|ميساء عبد الهادي; born 15 November 1985) is a Palestinian-Israeli actress.[1] Abd Elhadi won the best actress award at the Dubai Film Festival in 2011.[2]
In October 2023, after the 7 October Hamas-led attack on Israel, she was put on trial following posts she made on social networks, where she allegedly support terror. In November 2024, after about a year, she was released from house arrest, under restrictions on the use of social networks.
Maisa Abd Elhadi was born in Nazareth, Israel on 15 November 1985 to Palestinian Muslim parents.[3]
At the age of twenty, she joined a group of amateur actors and began performing with them in Nazareth. At the same time, she completed a B.A. in hydrotherapy at the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sports. While working as a waitress, she met director Elia Suleiman, who offered her her first role. Following this meeting, she began auditioning and studying at the Academy of Performing Arts in Tel Aviv where she graduated with honors.
Maisa was shot and injured in the leg by Israeli forces, while taking part in a civil protest in the city of Haifa, Israel, on 9 May 2021, protesting against forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their homes in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah.[4]
During the 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, Maisa was detained by police in Nazareth for "expressions of praise for terror and hate speech" by sharing, laughing and mocking at images of hostages uploaded by Hamas on social media, among other crimes.[5] [6] On October 29, she was charged with incitement to terrorism and expressing solidarity with a terror organization, both according to the .
In November 2024, the Magistrate's Court in Nazareth ruled that Maisa will be released from house arrest that lasted for about a year, but she is still denied the possibility of using social networks, with the exception of WhatsApp.[7]