Raed Salah in court
Raed Salah in courtMeir Vaknin/Flash90

Raed Salah, the head of the radical northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel and a prominent Islamist figure, has been sentenced to 28 months in prison for his support for a terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

The Haifa Magistrate’s Court sentenced Salah, 66, Monday morning to 28 months in prison, but dropped eleven months of the sentence for time already served, leaving him with 17 months in prison. In addition, the court handed down an 18-month suspended sentence.

Salah was convicted last November for supporting a banned organization – the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel – and was later convicted of incitement to terrorism, over his public support for a July 2017 terror attack on the Temple Mount that left two Israeli border police dead.

The attack was carried out by three Israeli Arab residents of Umm al-Fahm, where Salah once served as mayor.

At the funeral for the three terrorists, Salah hailed them as “righteous” martyrs.

A number of high-profile Israeli Arab figures arrived at the Haifa Magistrate’s Court Monday to show support for Salah, including Joint List MK Heba Yazbak, who had previously praised terrorists in a number of social media posts.

On Sunday, the Supreme Court overturned a decision by the Central Elections Committee banning Yazbak from running in next month’s election.

In its five-to-four decision, the court rejected the committee’s determination that Yazbak had violated Israeli election law by expressing support for terrorism.