Israel bans Islamist group over Jerusalem mosque clashes

In this Tuesday, November 10, 2015 photo, Palestinians drive near the Qalandia checkpoint between Jerusalem and the West Bank city of Ramallah.

The crackdown, which one senior politician tried to link to the global campaign against Islamic extremists after last week’s attacks in Paris, threatened to worsen already strained relations with the country’s Arab minority.

Arab groups condemned Tuesday’s decision as another step by Israel to marginalize them.

In yesterday’s announcement, Israel’s security cabinet said indictments were issued for Salah and an unknown number of other leaders in the Islamic Movement of Northern Israel.

The ban comes as Israel tries on several fronts to stop the knife, gun and car-ramming attacks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly declaring that he will pursue those he accused of incitement.

This settler-colonialism-the racist project to take over territory and expel the Indigenous people using awful violence-is similar to what European settlers did to the Indigenous people of North America. Authorities also froze the group’s bank accounts.

Parts of the security establishment were against outlawing the movement, fearing it will lead to further radicalization in the Arab sector, make it more hard to track and monitor the movement’s supporters and could even make the movement more popular. Also killed was a Palestinian man, but police said it was unclear if he was hit by the attacker’s fire or that of Israeli forces.

In outlawing its most strident Islamist group, Israel risks angering its largely quiescent Arab citizens as it confronts a wave of Palestinian violence powered by religious and political tensions.

Critics of Netanyahu’s move say the Islamic Movement of Northern Israel’s claims regarding the al-Aqsa mosque are protected speech. A general strike and mass protests have been called.

This is not the first such ban by Israel. “And I remain committed to a vision of peace of two states for two peoples, a demilitarised Palestinian state that recognises the Jewish state”, he added.

Under interim peace agreements, Israel controls cellular networks in the West Bank.

“To counteract the radicalization we must go back to the situation such as the one in the Middle East of which not the least the Palestinians see that there is no future: we must either accept a desperate situation or resort to violence”, she said. The rest were killed in clashes with security forces. Palestinians accuse Israel of plotting to take over the hilltop compound known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, something Israel denies. Netanyahu’s latest strategy is to criminalize those who charge Israel with attempting to alter the tenuous status quo over Jerusalem’s holy sites. Since 2001, the Islamic Movement has bused tens of thousands of supporters to the mosque compound every year to strengthen Muslim presence. Police at times have blocked busloads of Islamic Movement supporters from Jerusalem.

Since the start of last month, 14 Israelis have been killed by Palestinians.