In the mid-1980s, a young man who had just completed his Islam studies degree at Hebron University, the brother of two Israel Police officers, submitted his candidacy to be the imam of a mosque in Umm al-Fahm – which at the time was a village, not a city – only to be rejected due to his views "against the state." This young man, a member of the Islamic Movement in Israel, began working his way up the ladder, but very quickly split from the mother movement to form the Northern Branch, which was outlawed more than a decade ago.
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On Wednesday, Sheikh Raed Salah is expected to get out of jail for the second time in the past decade, this time following a conviction for incitement to violence in articles and social media posts he authored.
The State of Israel has waged a determined campaign against Salah, his doctrine and his followers for many years now, yet despite wiping out the immense financial enterprise established by his organization, confiscating tens of millions of shekels, shutting down numerous institutions and outlawing it – every time the sheikh is arrested, tried or released from prison, the event turns into a public show of solidarity for the man, his legacy, and what he represents.
Salah began building his support base following then-Islamic Movement leader Sheikh Abdullah Nimr Darwish's decision in the mid-1990s to run for Knesset in the wake of the Oslo Accords. Salah and a handful of his supporters believed running for Israeli public office crossed a red line, and due to severe ideological differences rooted in the recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, they decided to split from the mother movement. Following the rift, Darwish headed the Southern Branch, in which MK Mansour Abbas rose through the ranks.
For two decades, Salah highlighted the Al-Aqsa mosque on the Temple Mount as a national-religious objective and predicated the bulk of his doctrine around the narrative that the mosque was in existential danger and that Israel or Jewish elements could demolish it at any given moment. He traveled across the Arab and Islamic world insisting "Al-Aqsa is in danger," and around this slogan and claim an entire industry was built, lavish events were held, millions of shekels were raised, and propaganda materials were disseminated via social media and news outlets throughout the Arab world – which eventually adopted this allegation as a type of pan-Arab ideology.
When the October 2000 riots in Israel erupted, in which 13 citizens, among them 12 Arab Israelis lost their lives, Salah wielded considerable influence. The national committee of inquiry at the time summoned him for a testimony that spanned several days, concluding that his efforts to fan the flames and encourage Arab Israeli youth to take to the streets were partially to blame for the violence.
Today, despite being a released convict who cannot legally run an institution or be officially elected as a public representative, this man is widely considered to be the most influential leader among Israel's Arab citizens. Aside from Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, he is welcomed throughout virtually the entire Arab world as a national hero who stands as a bulwark against the State of Israel, particularly as it pertains to defending the Al-Aqsa mosque.
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