Following the brief arrest on Tuesday of Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement Northern Branch, for incitement, at least two government ministers say that Salah’s entire movement should be outlawed.
Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom of the Likud sent a letter to Cabinet Secretary Tzvi Hauser, asking that the next Cabinet meeting include this issue on its agenda.
The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel was founded in 1996 as a result of a split with the original, more moderate, Islamic Movement. Its motto is: “Allah is our goal, the prophet [Muhammed] is our leader, the Koran is our law, Jihad [religious war] is our way – and death in the way of Allah is our highest hope.”
Though the organization is located in Israel, it does not recognize Israel’s right to exist. It does use Israeli services for local purposes, however.
Shalom: We're Sovereign in Jerusalem
“It’s time we remind everyone that we are the sovereign in Jerusalem and the Temple Mount,” according to Minister Shalom. “The Prosecution and the police must stop the Palestinian take-over of Jerusalem, and must act with full force against the Islamic Movement’s wild incitement. There are times when the gloves must be taken off… The Islamic Movement must be outlawed – immediately. The movement’s leaders must be arrested and placed behind bars for many years.”
Minister Uzi Landau (Israel Our Home), a former Public Security Minister, says that this week’s Arab riots in Jerusalem “demand that we implement a simple and clear policy against the Islamic Movement. In Ariel Sharon’s first government, Raed Salah was tried and sat in prison… If we show weakness towards him and towards other Arab imams who incite to violence, this will bring upon us even worse riots in the future.”
Salah's Deputy: "Ethiopian Negro Won't Stop Moslem from Praying on Temple Mount"
Salah’s deputy, Camel Hatib, who has been termed a “dangerous man” by former Northern District Police Chief Alik Ron, is also in Israel sights.
MK Dr. Michael Ben-Ari (National Union) wrote to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, asking that an investigation be opened against Hatib for incitement to racism and violence. Hatib, interviewed on Army Radio, said, “The Al-Aksa Mosque and the Temple Mount are not holy to Jews and they are forbidden from praying there... It cannot be that an Ethiopian policeman, a Negro, will stop a Moslem from praying at the Al-Aksa Mosque.”
Salah Kept Out of Jerusalem
Sheikh Salah, head of the Northern Branch, was arrested in the Wadi Joz neighborhood of Jerusalem on Tuesday on charges of incitement and sedition against the State. The police asked that Salah, a resident of Umm el-Fahm in the southern Galilee, be detained for five days or kept under house arrest in his hometown. However, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court ordered him released almost immediately, with the caveat that he not enter Jerusalem for the next month.
Police sources put on a brave front, saying the goal was to keep him out of Jerusalem and “show the inciters that Israel is a country of law.”