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Israeli authorities in Jerusalem have banned a play written by an Israeli Arab, calling it a racist production that would incite anti-Israeli protests. But playwright Riad Masarwy of Nazareth said his work, “The Ninth Wave,” was censored because “the government could not deal with the political situation that exists today.” The play is about a groom who is killed by Israeli troops in the occupied West Bank moments before his marriage. As the bride dances around his body, relatives tell of alleged Israeli atrocities against the Palestinian people since Israeli independence in 1948. “The play has a racist message that is anti-Jewish, anti-Zionist and anti-Israeli in the most crude way,” said Sonia David, secretary of the Israeli film and theatre censorship board. “It is liable in the existing circumstances to cause a worsening of (anti-Israel) riots.” Masarwy, 40, said, “I do not hurt the feelings of anyone. I bring facts from the past and from the present. Apparently the authorities cannot handle these facts.” He said he plans to continue rehearsals for the play, which was due to open in Nazareth in September.