JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel’s Security Cabinet has outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, accusing the group of incitement and links to terrorism.
The Cabinet approved the decision on Tuesday and Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon signed the defense regulations.
Under the decision, any person who belongs to the organization or acts on its behalf is subject to arrest and imprisonment. Property belonging to the organization can also be seized.
The northern branch of the Islamic Movement, headed by Sheik Raad Salah, has fomented the campaign that accuses Israel of intending to harm the Al-Aqsa mosque and violating the status quo on the Temple Mount, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement. It established the network of activists called the Mourabitoun and Mourabitat to initiate provocations on the Temple Mount, adding to the tension at the site, the statement said.
In addition, the organization is a sister movement of Hamas, which Israel and the United States label as a terrorist group, and is a branch of the Muslim Brotherhood.
“The northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel is undermining the state,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement. “It incites violence against innocent people. It has close ties with the Hamas terrorist organization and it seeks to subvert the state in order to establish an Islamic caliphate in its place.”
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