Indian media is reporting that the International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS), headed by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi, has launched a campaign in Istanbul calling for the release if imprisoned Israeli Muslim Brotherhood leader Raed Salah. According to the Times of India report:
November 7, 2017 The International Union of Muslim Scholars launched a campaign Monday in Istanbul to advocate for the release of Palestinian political leader Raed Salah.
Salah, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, was arrested and imprisoned by Israel in August on charges of ‘inciting violence.’
The Qatar-based International Union of Muslim Scholars’ campaign includes activists from Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine, leading activities such as conferences, awareness events and sit-in protests.
The union’s president and prominent Egyptian theologian, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, will give a speech in Istanbul Monday evening.
A successful two-week Palestinian uprising in July that swayed Israel to remove cameras and metal detectors from the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem gave this movement its impetus, said media coordinator Yunus Abu Jarad.
‘The Zionist occupation has been targeting Palestinians, banning them from entry to Al-Aqsa and arresting them. Things are happening every day in Jerusalem and no one is paying attention to it,’ Abu Jarad told Al Jazeera in Istanbul.
Salah, an Israeli citizen, was accused by Israeli justice ministry of expressing ‘praise, sympathy or encouragement for an act of terrorism,’ after the funeral of two Palestinians who attacked Israeli security forces at Al-Aqsa on July 14.
Read the rest here.
The International Union of Muslim Scholars (IUMS) was launched on July 11, 2004 in conjunction with a visit by Global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi to London for a meeting of the European Council for Fatwa and Research. Qaradawi is the IUMS President while many prominent individuals tied to the Global Muslim Brotherhood and/or Hamas serve as IUMS Trustees.
Raed Salah is the leader of the so-called Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, essentially comprising the Israeli Muslim Brotherhood. He is noted for often alleging that Israel is conspiring to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. (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.) In January 2017, the GMBDW reported that Raed Salah has been released from prison after serving a nine-month sentence for incitement to violence and racism. The GMBDW reported in November 2015 that an Israeli court had sentenced Salah, the head of the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel, to 11 months jail for his role in inciting the current violence in Israel. GMBDW reporting on Salah has included:
- In October 2015, we reported on Raed Salah and the key role played by the Muslim Brotherhood in Israel in the wave of violence that gripped the country at that time.
- In August 2015, we reported that Israel’s Internal Security minister had asked the Minister of Defense to urgently ban two organizations operating on the Temple Mount and funded by the Islamic Movement. According to another Israeli media report at the time, Raed Salah spoke out against the move saying that Arabs who attack police and Jewish visitors on the Temple Mount represent “the ‘honor’ of the Muslim nation and the Arab world”
- We reported in January 2015 that the internal security service Shin Bet had shut down three Islamic charities for allegedly inciting violence against Jews and Israeli security forces. According an Israel Hayom report, the charities were created in October 2014 by the northern branch of the Islamic movement in Israel.
- In June 2014, we reported on claims by the Shin Bet that a senior Hamas official arrested in April had admitted that Hamas is exploiting the Islamic Movement in Israel to promote its interests in Jerusalem. We had reported a few days earlier that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wanted to outlaw the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement.
Israeli media has published a profile of Raed Sarah titled “The rise of Raed Salah, Israel’s Islamist leader who wants Jerusalem at the heart of a caliphate.”
For our profile on Raed Salah, go here.