Sheikh Raed Salah
Photo: Barel Efraim
7 people, 2 associations convicted of affiliation with terrorist group
Money funneled from Turkey, UK, knowingly funded the northern branch of the Islamic Movement—a banned terrorist group; seven members of the group and two associations affiliated with it are convicted to have used the funds for the group's illegal activities, taken some as commission.
Seven members of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement and two associations affiliated with the movement were convicted Friday of affiliation with a banned terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit a crime.
The defendants confessed and were convicted as part of a plea bargain of operating through a limited company and a registered association, initiating, planning and executing various charitable activities on behalf of the branch—after it was outlawed in order to discontinue its activities.
The indictment detailed the manner in which the defendants obtained money to carry out their illegal projects, and described how the funding for the prohibited activity, amounting to several million shekels, came from various organizations in Turkey and the UK who transferred funds to finance the Islamic Movement's projects, even after it was outlawed.
Leader of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Salah (Photo: Gil Yohanan)
Some of the defendants took commissions from those funds, which were usually transferred to them in cash.
As part of the plea bargain, they were sentenced to prison terms ranging from weeks to a few months, agreed to the forfeiture of any funds seized during the investigation against them, and fined with amounts ranging from NIS 10,000 to NIS 150,000, depending on the severity of each defendant's offense.
In November 2015, the Israel declared the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel an unlawful gathering under the Defense (Emergency) Regulations of 1945, effectively outlawing the group led by Sheikh Raed Salah.
In November 2016, the law went into effect, designating the northern branch as a terrorist organization.
In August 2017, the leader of the outlawed northern branch, Sheikh Raed Salah, was charged with three counts of inciting terror and supporting an illegal association.
The indictment refers to remarks he made after the Temple Mount terror attack, some of which were part of a speech he'd given during the funerals of the three Israeli Arab terrorists who murdered two Israeli police officers.
The indictment details the comments Salah made that according to the state constitute incitement to terrorism.
Salah was released from prison some seven months prior after serving nine months following his conviction for inciting violence and racism in a sermon he delivered in east Jerusalem in 2007. Hundreds of Umm al-Fahm residents greeted him with celebrations and fireworks.
