Israeli media has reported that an Israeli court has sentenced Raed Salah, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel, to 11 months jail for his role in inciting the current violence in Israel. According to a Times of Israel report:
October 27, 2015 The head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, Sheikh Raed Salah, must serve 11 months of jail time for incitement to violence and racism, the Jerusalem District Court ruled Tuesday after rejecting an appeal by the high-profile Islamist cleric for the second time.
Salah, who was convicted in connection with a sermon he delivered in 2007 in Jerusalem, will begin serving his sentence in November, the Ynet news site reported.
The sentencing comes as Israel’s government has said it is seeking to outlaw Salah’s group, blaming it for helping to goad attackers during a wave of violence that has seen near daily stabbings and other attacks.
The cleric originally lost an appeal over an eight-month sentence he received last year, and was sentenced in March to 11 months in prison when racism charges were added to the case. He appealed again, but the court ruled against him Tuesday.
During the 2007 sermon, Salah expressed hope that ‘the streets of Jerusalem be purified with the blood of the innocent, who shed it in order to separate from their souls the soldiers of the Israel occupation, also in the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque.’ He further said that ‘our finest moment will be when we meet Allah as martyrs in Al-Aqsa.’
A crowd of Palestinian men confronted Border Police troops at the end of that sermon, wounding three of them.
Salah responded to the court decision by vowing to continue agitating over the Temple Mount.
‘Jerusalem is under occupation and we won’t give up on the value of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. With spirit and blood we will redeem Al-Aqsa,’ he said, according to the Walla news website.
Read the rest here.
A Hamas spokesman has condemned the sentence calling it “an extension of the Israeli aggression against Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
Last month, the GMBDW reported on Raed Salah and the key role played by the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel in the current violence that has gripped the country of late. Other recent GMBDW coverage has included:
- At the end of August, we reported that Israel’s Internal Security minister had asked the Minister of Defense to urgently ban two organizations operating on the Temple Mount and funded by the Islamic Movement. According to another Israeli media report at the time, Raed Salah spoke out against the move saying that Arabs who attack police and Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount represent “the ‘honor’ of the Muslim nation and the Arab world”
- We reported in January 2015 that the internal security service Shin Bet had shut down three Islamic charities for allegedly inciting violence against Jews and Israeli security forces. According an Israel Hayom report, the charities were created in October 2014 by the northern branch of the Islamic movement in Israel.
- In June 2014, we reported on claims by the Shin Bet that a senior Hamas official arrested in April had admitted that Hamas is exploiting the Islamic Movement in Israel to promote its interests in Jerusalem. We had reported a few days earlier that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to outlaw the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement..
Raed Salah is the leader of the so-called Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, essentially comprising the Israeli Muslim Brotherhood. He is noted for often alleging that Israel is conspiring to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (The Al-Aqsa Mosque is often the subject of various Global Muslim Brotherhood conspiracies theories involving alleged Israeli plots and plans to destroy the mosque.)
For profile on Raed Salah, go here.
For a profile of the Islamic Movement in Israel, go here.