UMM EL FAHM, Israel — Israeli authorities Monday released from jail
firebrand Islamic cleric Raed Salah, a rival of the first Arab party leader to
support an Israeli government, who was imprisoned for incitement to terrorism.
اضافة اعلان
Salah was greeted with fireworks and a crowd
of some 1,000 supporters who were chanting "Raed, the sheikh of
Al-Aqsa" as he arrived in his home city of Umm El-Fahm.
Last year, an Israeli court convicted him of
"incitement to terror" for "praising, sympathizing, or
encouraging terrorism" in remarks made after attackers from his home city
killed two policemen in
Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound three years
earlier.
Salah, who walked free after serving a
16-month sentence, heads a group known as the northern branch of the Islamic
Movement in Israel.
The political wing of the movement's southern
branch, called Raam, is headed by Mansour Abbas, who in June agreed to support
a government headed by right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett,
backing that enabled Bennett to form a government.
The Islamic Movement in Israel split in 1996.
Salah's group was outlawed in 2015 for incitement
linked to the Jerusalem holy site.
His supporters say his sermons are within the
bounds of free speech and that his arrests constitute political intimidation
intended to silence dissent. Salah served a nine-month sentence on similar
charges in 2017.
Salah's movement calls for the boycott of
Israeli elections by
Palestinian citizens of Israel on the grounds that they
give legitimacy to the institutions of Israel.
Before Israel's March election, Abbas said his
party was willing to work with any Israeli government that would take steps to
improve the lives of Arab citizens, who have long complained of unequal
treatment compared to Jewish Israelis.
Abbas then emerged as a surprise kingmaker and
joined the coalition in a historic deal that included a multibillion-dollar
pledge to tackle some of the problems experienced by Palestinian citizens of
Israel, who constitute more than 20 percent of the country's population.
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