In the mid-1980s, a young man who studied Islam at the University of Hebron, the brother of two policemen who served in the Israel Police, applied for the position of Imam of the Umm al-Fahm Mosque - then a village rather than a city, but his candidacy was rejected due to his "anti-state" stances.
This young man belonged to the Islamic movement, and began to operate in its ranks, but very quickly he split from the mother movement, and founded the Northern Islamic movement, which was outlawed more than a decade ago.
Today, Sheikh Raed Salah is being released from prison for the second time in the last decade, and this time he is being released after being convicted of incitement to violence, following articles he wrote and posts he posted on social media.
For many years, the State of Israel waged a stubborn struggle against Sheikh Salah, his doctrine and supporters, and although it succeeded in eliminating the huge economic enterprise established by the Islamic Movement, confiscating tens of millions of shekels, it closed many institutions and outlawed them. , The event becomes a demonstration of support for the man and his legacy and what he represents.
Salah began to build his support base following the decision of the movement's leader at the time, Sheikh Abdullah Nimer Darwish, to run in the Knesset elections following the signing of the Oslo Accords in the mid-1990s.
Salah and a small group of supporters saw the candidacy for the Knesset as a red line, and due to a difficult ideological dispute, based on the cold state of Israel as a Jewish state, they decided to split from the mother movement.
After the split, Sheikh Darwish headed the southern faction - from which MK Mansour Abbas also grew.
Sheikh Raed Salah was released from prison and received with Palestinian flags.
Photo: Michelle Dot Com
For two decades, Sheikh Salah marked the Al-Aqsa Mosque as a national religious destination, and built most of his doctrine around the story that the mosque is in existential danger, and that every day the State of Israel or Jewish elements may bring about the demolition of the mosque.
He traveled around the Arab and Islamic world, saying "Al-Aqsa is in danger" and around this statement and claim an entire industry was built, events were set up in which millions of shekels were invested, a lot of money was raised and information materials and films were made. The Arab World.
With the outbreak of the October 2000 events, in which 13 civilians and 12 Arab citizens were killed, Sheikh Salah had a lot of influence, the State Commission of Inquiry even summoned him to testimony that lasted several days, and some of its conclusions even referred to his negative activity.
Today, although he is a released prisoner, with no ability to run an institution or any ability to be officially elected as a public representative, the man is considered the most influential leader among the Arab public in Israel, and besides Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Egypt, he is accepted in almost all Arab countries The State of Israel, especially with regard to the protection of the Al-Aqsa Mosque.
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