Tuesday, 29 January 2013 The leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheikh Raed Salah, has won the International King Faisal Award for services to Islam. The International King Faisal Awarding Body said that, ‘Sheikh Salah won the award for being one of the most prominent personalities in the formation of the Islamic Movement in the Palestinians territories occupied in 1948; the President of the al-Aqsa Foundation for Islamic Sanctuaries; and the first to have discovered the clandestine tunnel digging taking place under the al-Aqsa Mosque.’ The Body announced that, ‘Two Americans, Douglas Coleman and Jeffrey Friedman, shared the award for medicine which had a theme of ‘Genetic Factors for Obesity’. The Canadian, Paul Kurkam and the Austrian, Ferenc Cruz, won the science award in physics. The award for studies in Islamic studies was concealed because the occupations of candidates do not meet the requirements for winning the prize.’ The Head of the Awarding Body, Prince Khaled al-Faisal, called on the Arabs to ‘strive toward the benefit of their peoples and countries’ and spoke of a ‘black cloud’ passing over the Arab region. He also announced ‘the formation of a new awarding body’ which will present the award annually. It is worth mentioning that winners of the award are given a 200 gram gold medal in addition to $200,000 each.
In 2010, the Jerusalem Post profiled Mr. Salah who leads the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, essentially the Israeli Muslim Brotherhood.
A post from April discussed the decision by a British court to uphold the appeal by Salah against a deportation order. A post from last October 2011 discussed the deportation order itself. An earlier post reported on the ongoing support offer to Mr. Salah by the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood. Other posts have discussed the arrest of Mr. Salah in the U.K. and the support offered to him by the Global Muslim Brotherhood.
A post from last October report that Salah had given an address which he said s that Islam will deliver the West from “Global Zionism.” A post from September reported on comments by Salah in which he predicted that Israel actions toward the Al-Aqsa Mosque will “speed up the demise of the Zionist entity.” The Al-Aqsa Mosque is often the subject of various Global Muslim Brotherhood conspiracies theories involving alleged Israeli plots and plans to destroy the mosque. . Knowledgable sources report that Salah is currently residing in Israel. A BBC producer and MEMRI have also both covered the anti-Semitic and extremist views of Mr. Salah.