by Lt. Col. (res.) Dr. Shaul Bartal
In his life story and the attitudes he espouses, Sheikh Raed Salah embodies the radicalization of Muslims in Israel.
Raed Salah, photo via Wikipedia
BESA Center Perspectives Paper No. 1,496, March 22, 2020
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Sheikh Raed Salah was
recently sentenced to 28 months in prison for encouraging and supporting
terror attacks by his followers, including the attack at the Temple
Mount on July 14, 2017, that killed police officers Haiel Sitawe and
Kamil Shnaan. Though Salah has been behind bars for security offenses on
multiple occasions, legal verdicts have never prevented him or his
illegal Northern Branch from continuing to incite Israeli Arabs against
the country in which they live.
In his life story and the attitudes he espouses, Sheikh Raed Salah embodies the radicalization of Muslims in Israel.
Salah (literally “honest pioneer”) was born in the
town of Umm al-Fahm in 1954. His father and two brothers served as
officers in the Israel Police. After the 1967 Six-Day War, young Israeli
Arab Muslims were able to attend religious institutions in the West
Bank that were under the sway of the Muslim Brotherhood. Salah, along
with Kamel Khatib, became the original nucleus of the Islamic cell at
Hebron College (now Hebron University), which eventually turned
pro-Hamas. Another member of that cell was Salah Aruri, founder of
Hamas’s military wing and now deputy head of its political bureau.
Salah was arrested for the first time in 1981 for
joining the Asrat al-Jihad (Family of Jihad) organization, which was set
up by Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish, the founder of the Islamic Movement
in Israel. Members of this group, including Khatib, were arrested for
belonging to an illegal organization, then freed in the 1985 Jibril
Deal. After their release, some members of the Islamic Movement appeared
to renounce their support for terror and focus instead on the political
sphere.
Salah was elected Umm al-Fahm mayor and served
from 1989 to 2001. During that period he began to formulate his
worldview, which holds that Muslims in Israel must detach completely
from governmental institutions and that the Islamic Movement must not
take part in elections to the Knesset. That stance led to a division of
the Islamic Movement into the Southern Branch, headed by Sheikh Darwish,
and the more radical Northern Branch, led by Salah with Khatib as his
deputy.
On June 24, 2003, Salah and members of his
movement were served with an indictment that revealed the Northern
Branch’s ties with Hamas, including use of their Israeli citizenship for
purposes of fundraising and support for imprisoned Hamas terrorists and
their families. Since the organizational split, and especially since
stepping down as mayor of Umm al-Fahm, Salah has frequently come out in
favor of anti-Israeli terror and violence.
Salah’s speeches are laced with antisemitism, and
for that reason he was barred from entering Britain in 2012 (though he
was granted entry after an appeal). His message contains several
consistent themes: the Jews aim to destroy the al-Aqsa Mosque, and
Muslims are duty-bound to defend it by any means necessary; the struggle
between Jews and Muslims is an eternal one that appears in the Qur’an;
the Palestinian “nakba” is comparable to the Jewish Holocaust; and
“martyrs” are praiseworthy and will only multiply on the path of jihad
until victory. In the sheikh’s view, the entire expanse of the Temple
Mount, which comprises 36 acres, is sacred and belongs solely to
Muslims—not only the al-Aqsa Mosque area. The Jewish enemy, Salah
claims, is deliberately planning a gradual takeover of the site, first
by taking control of the gates to the mosque and then by building a
Jewish temple in place of the “radiant Dome of the Rock.” He asserted as
much during a conference he held for members of the Masatab al-Ilm
(“Benches of Learning”) organization on November 27, 2013. Masatab
al-Ilm eventually spawned the Murabitun and the Murabitat (the
“Steadfast Ones,” in their male and female forms), groups that were
themselves declared illegal in September 2015.
The founding of the Murabitun in 2010 marked a
further step toward realizing Salah’s vision. Groups of women and men,
mostly from East Jerusalem, began to operate ostensibly as “study
groups” but with the real intention of disrupting visits by Jews to the
Temple Mount and provoking disturbances in the compound. Groups of women
led by Hanadi Halawani, Khadija Hawis, Sahar Natsheh, and others
frequently attacked police officers and worshippers on the Mount. These
groups gained wide support among Muslim Brotherhood factions in the Arab
world and especially among Hamas backers. Donations from Muslim
Brotherhood NGOs arrived via Turkey, Qatar, and Lebanon. Halawani and
Hawis were repeatedly invited to conferences of al-Kutla al-Islamiya
(the Islamic Bloc) at West Bank universities, particularly Bir Zeit near
Ramallah and an-Najah in Nablus.
The indictment served against Salah on August 24, 2017
cited his calls for jihad along with his praise for the murderers of
police officers Haiel Sitawe and Kamil Shnaan. The court’s verdict made
clear that his statements are not mere religious-legal expressions but
direct incitement to commit acts of terror. Not only did the three
terrorists proclaim during the attack that “We are from Sheikh Raed
Salah’s people,” but a “lone wolf” named Ala Tawil testified that he
regarded the sheikh as his leader and wanted to carry out an attack on
behalf of al-Aqsa.
A study conducted at the BESA Center in 2015-16
found that most lone-wolf terrorists who were Hamas members or
supporters identified with the stance of “Sheikh al-Aqsa,” as Salah is
called in Muslim Brotherhood publications. These individuals’ Facebook
pages expressed that identification. Some of them took part in the
“al-Aqsa fi Khatr” (“al-Aqsa Is in Danger”) conference held in September
2015 shortly before the Northern Branch was declared illegal.
Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood websites frequently
laud Salah’s contribution to “the struggle to preserve al-Aqsa.” The
hashtag “We’re all Sheikh Raed Salah” is visible across the social
networks and has drawn many followers. Many Murabitun and Murabitat
members, whose activity has been outlawed, showed up to hail Salah as he
entered the courthouse following his indictment. As he left, they
chanted, “In blood and fire we will redeem Al-Aqsa!” and “In blood and
fire we will redeem Sheikh al-Aqsa!”
Salah’s organization has been banned and he has
been penalized for his activities, up to and including his current
prison sentence. None of that is preventing either the sheikh or his
illegal Northern Branch from continuing to incite Israeli Arabs against
the country in which they live.
Source: https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/sheikh-raed-salah-and-his-endless-struggle-against-israel/
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