Israel outlaws and shuts offices of Arab reconciliation body led by radical cleric
Security forces briefly arrest Sheikh Raed Salah, accuse him of using committees that mediate disputes between families as cover to continue his Islamist political activities

Security forces shuttered the offices of reconciliation committees in the Arab city of Umm al-Fahm on Tuesday, citing the body’s Islamist ties.
Police and Shin Bet raided the committees’ offices and arrested their head, Sheikh Raed Salah, but released him later in the day.
The “peace spreading” committees were an initiative of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, a leading umbrella organization among Israel’s Arab minority. Established by Salah in 2017, the committees operate with the stated goal of curbing violence in Arab society by mediating between feuding families.
The raid came in the wake of a decision by Defense Minister Israel Katz to outlaw the reconciliation program, citing its links to the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, which Salah heads.
Israel declared the Northern Branch illegal in 2015 over repeated incitement to terrorism.
Two years later, police arrested Salah for sermons he gave lauding terrorists from Umm al-Fahm who killed two police officers on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, and in 2020 he was convicted of incitement to terror.
Israeli police arrest prominent Palestinian figure Sheikh Raed Salah after searching his home and office in his hometown of Umm al-Fahm in northern Israel, according to his lawyer https://t.co/f2dIqVZxgR pic.twitter.com/pHaU32FFj5
— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) January 28, 2025
After being released from prison in 2021, Salah expanded the program’s reach to other towns, amid surging violence in Arab communities.
Over the past two years, the number of Arab murder victims reached nearly double that of 2021, jumping from 126 in 2021, to 244 in 2023. This past year, the number stood at 230, according to data from the Abraham Initiatives group.

The program established a uniform set of guidelines for local reconciliation committees in resolving disputes between families, which often lead to violence.
Police alleged that the network acts as a cover for Saleh to continue his Islamist political activities, which are “in step with the worldview of the Muslim Brotherhood and disseminate the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement’s anti-Israel agenda.”
Ra’am party chairman MK Mansour Abbas criticized law enforcement’s move as inappropriate, asserting the reconciliation committees do not belong to any particular ideology or political movement and warning the ban could harm efforts to curb violent crime.
“I would expect the defense minister, minister of national security and attorney general to use their power against the criminal organizations dominating Arab citizens, and to take a tough stance against criminal organizations, rather than reconciliation committees,” he told the Haaretz daily.