An Arab Israeli man was indicted on Tuesday for incitement and expressing support for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah.
Ali bin Adbullah Sarhan, a 64-year-old resident of the northern town of Nahf, was a member of a group on the WhatsApp messaging application called “Shabkat al-Ghaliboun” (Network of the Victors), whose users shared pro-Hezbollah content, according to an indictment filed at the Haifa District Court.
In addition to sharing some of the content on his Facebook account, the indictment said Sarhan also sent messages in the WhatsApp group expressing support for Hezbollah and calling for attacks on Israeli soldiers.
Prosecutors allege one such message shared by Sarhan includes photos of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar Assad next to an image of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, on which was written, “I’m Palestinian and my commander is Bashar Hafez Assad. Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine.”
Sarhan is being charged with incitement to terror, contact with a foreign agent, and identifying with a terror group.
Get The Times of Israel's Daily Edition
by email and never miss our top stories
By signing up, you agree to the
terms
Prosecutors asked the court to keep Sarhan, arrested on December 10, in custody until the end of legal proceedings.
We can't do this work alone.
The war with Iran has been draining for all of us in Israel. But when I heard about a high casualty incident – ballistic missile impacts in Arad and Dimona that left nearly 200 people wounded – I drank a cup of coffee, packed a bag, and headed south.
There, I spoke with Shilgit, the head of an after-school program for underprivileged youth. Standing outside her destroyed center, Shilgit said it was a miracle that no children were hurt and spoke about the community coming together in the hours since.
As a Times of Israel reporter, I’m committed to telling stories of resilience like Shilgit’s. But my colleagues and I can't do this alone. If you value work like this, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to keep real human reporting like this going.
— Stav Levaton, military reporter
Yes, I'll join
Yes, I'll join
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
