Police close Islamic charities that ‘instigated unrest’ on Temple Mt.
Security officials shut down three Nazareth groups, saying they sought to undermine security at contested site
Israeli security officials closed three Nazareth charities Monday for allegedly provoking tensions on the Temple Mount.
Authorities said the charities, which belonged to the radical northern branch of the Islamic Movement, were used to undermine Israeli security at the Temple Mount and inflame recent tensions between Arabs and Israel’s security forces.
Palestinian activists were allegedly paid by the groups to visit the compound on a daily basis, taunt Jewish visitors and otherwise foment unrest at the site, according to investigators from the Shin Bet and anti-corruption police unit Lahav 443.
Tensions flared for weeks around the contested site in recent months, with numerous clashes in and around the compound.
The closures come after Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon banned the charities in December following months of legislative efforts by Israeli politicians to outlaw the radical Islamic Movement northern branch and its affiliates.
A statement issued by the Islamic Movement on Monday confirmed that three of its Nazareth offices had been shut down by Israeli officials.
The Islamic Movement’s northern branch is led by extremist Arab-Israeli cleric Sheikh Raed Salah, who has been convicted in Israel on a number of charges, including incitement to violence and funding Hamas.
Amid the deadly terror attacks in Paris last week, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman linked the northern branch of the Islamic Movement to terror groups, and urged a tougher stance on the organization and its affiliates.
“Extremist groups, which are distinguishable from terror organizations only by semantics and legal minutiae, must be dealt with preemptively,” the foreign minister said Thursday. “Those who tolerate such movements and organizations in the end pay for this [tolerance] with the blood of many innocents and with a threat to the very democracy that allowed them to function.
“Therefore, we must not dally any longer or allow the continued activities of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement headed by Sheikh Raed Salah.”