Sheikh Raed Salah receives 28-month prison sentence for inciting terror
Salah vehemently denied the charges adding that the proceedings and facts surrounding the case were "far from the truth."
By ZACHARY KEYSERSheikh Raed Salah (C), head of the Islamic Movement in northern Israel.(photo credit: REUTERS)Sheikh Raed Salah was sentenced to 28 months in prison Monday on charges of inciting terrorism through speeches he made after two Border Police officers were killed in an attack on the Temple Mount on July 14, 2017.Salah’s conviction is a direct cause of efforts he made to instigate others to follow the same precedent as the Arab-Israeli gunmen who carried out the attack – an attack that set in motion sudden outbursts of deadly violence between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian people.During the attack, three terrorists opened fire near the Lions Gate in Jerusalem’s Old City on a group of Border Police guarding an entrance to the Temple Mount. Police responded, and a gun fight commenced during which all the terrorists were shot and killed.Salah vehemently denied the charges, adding that the proceedings and facts surrounding the case were “far from the truth.”Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan said Salah’s sentencing “illustrates that terrorism supporters and inciters belong in prison for a long time and not in the Knesset,” in a tweet alluding to a Supreme Court decision allowing Arab-Israeli politician Heba Yazbak of the Joint List Party to run in the March 2 election, notwithstanding previous statements she made inciting terrorism.According to court files, Salah on several occasions praised, expressed sympathy with or encouraged terrorism. In one case, for example, the cleric is accused of delivering a sermon “directly related to the murder” of two Border Police officers near Jerusalem’s Temple Mount.Similarly, he has delivered numerous inflammatory speeches during Friday prayers in Umm al-Fahm, consistently attended by hundreds of people.He was also convicted of delivering a speech at the funeral of a terrorist, also in Umm al-Fahm, during which thousands of masked people shot off fireworks and cried “Shahid! (Martyr) We will continue to fight” and “In blood we will redeem you, shahid!”According to the conviction, Salah delivered his fiery comments with full knowledge that they were being recorded and shared on his Facebook page.Salah is the purported leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, which Israel outlawed in 2015 for incitement linked to the Temple Mount. There are allegedly 20,000 members within the northern branch itself.
Salah was arrested and indicted in 2017 at the recommendation of the state’s attorney and with the approval of the attorney-general – for which he served out a nine-month sentence.Jerusalem Post Staff and Maayan Jaafe-Hoffman contributed to this report.
