Radical Muslim leader claims Israel plans to 'assassinate' him
Israel outlawed Raed Salah’s group in November 2016.
By YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA, JPOST.COM STAFFUpdated: JULY 29, 2017 18:12Raed Salah(photo credit: WIKIMEDIA COMMONS/ OREN ROZENFELD)
The leader of the banned Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel Raed Salah warned Israeli officials that assassination attempts on his life will bring more hardships. In an interview to the United Arab Emirates newspaper Al Khaleej, Raed Salah warned the Israeli government and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against making an assassination attempt on him or any of his family members. "The Israeli threats, which increased during the recent al-Aksa events, that they will remove me from the lands of 1948 (Independence War) or assassinate me are now in an operative stage", said the radical Islamic leader, "but they will not prevent me from defending al-Aksa and exposing what the occupation is doing." Israel outlawed Salah’s group in November 2016, explaining that the group has for years waged a campaign of deceitful incitement under the banner of "al-Aksa is in danger." The group is called the 'northern section' to distinguish it from the southern section of the Islamic Movement in Israel which has representatives in the Israeli parliament.
In response to the statement by the Minister of Intelligence Services Yisrael Katz that the "time had come to treat Salah and his friends forcefully", Salah said that these threats reveal the state of "racist hysteria" that the Israeli government is in and that "a thousand Salahs" will carry the banner after him should he expire. He called on the Arab and Muslim world, as well as the international community, to engage before "a massive disaster will take place in al-Aksa and then an official Jihad will be declared."
