MIDEAST > Israel court gives Nazareth imam 3 years for incitement

JERUSALEM - Agence France-Presse

Israeli lawmaker Michael Ben Ari speaks in front of police officers during a rally by Jewish ultranationalists in Nazareth, Israel's largest Arab town, calling to draft Israeli Arabs July 15, 2012. REUTERS photo

A court in the northern Israeli city of Nazareth has sentenced a local imam to three years in prison for incitement and supporting "terrorism," court documents showed.

Nazem Abu Slim, the outspoken imam of the Shihab al-Din mosque, was arrested in October 2010 on suspicion of having ties with militants and was convicted in April on charges of "incitement to violence and terror, and supporting a terror group." On Tuesday, Nazareth Magistrates Court sentenced him to three years in prison.

At the request of Abu Slim's lawyer, the jail term will begin on November 4, to enable the defence time to file an appeal.

In the April ruling, the court said Abu Slim had distributed booklets and brochures that support the global jihadist ideology and the ideology of the Al-Qaeda group, "which does not allow its followers to remain dormant," which espoused "a call for violence and bloodshed." In June 2010, police and the Shin Bet domestic security agency arrested seven Israeli Arabs from the Nazareth area, who reportedly attended the Shihab al-Din mosque, on suspicion of planning attacks on Jews and Christians.

Nazareth has the largest concentration of Christian Arabs in Israel.

Israel's Arab citizens, nearly 20 percent of the population, are Palestinians who stayed in the Jewish state following the 1948 war that attended its creation, along with their descendants.

September/12/2012

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Danny B Danny

9/18/2012 9:13:52 AM

A.Shmolik, as an Israel I remember well the time when there as no walls and fences. millions of Palestinian entered freely to Israel for work , trade and for entertainment, this did not stop the incitement toward Israel , even their standard of living climbed dramatically. always there were those behind who pushed them not to forget they are Palestinian and the Jews robbed their country. and as an act of memory we received terror in the streets, so don't build on people's shot memory,

A Shmolik

9/16/2012 7:47:01 AM

Danny B. You're taking a Walk down the Memory Lane of Terro vs.Terror, The Palestinian acts of terror are individual act of Desperation, being imprisoned in ones own Land by RoadBlocks, walls down the middle of their towns, Kept in Desert Prison Camps without chargesa at the whim of Authorities, terrorised by Settlers. This. This State State orgonized mass terror, permeates every facet of their daily life. You justify it by speculating of what may have been IF....Danny,mildly sayd, is Baloney!

Danny B Danny

9/15/2012 1:01:13 PM

A.Smolik: Its nice to mention this incident, but not mentioning the Palestinian authorities calling streets of Ramallah and Gaza under the names of "Shahids" who blew themselves up in Israeli bused restaurants and hotels. Not against and army but against children. Wouldn't imagine what would have happen to the Jewish population in Israel if we lost our wars, the massacre in Syria was a love story comparing to our faith if we were living under Palestinian leadership. sorry for defending ourselves

A Shmolik

9/13/2012 1:02:57 PM

Unfortunately, this merriment gives credence that Terror and Terrorism is in the eyes of the beholder, take the case of Rabbi Yaacov Perrin, who at the funeral of the Mass Murderer Baruch Goldstein, MD.eulogized that "Life of one Million Arabs was not worth the fingernail of a Jew" If thaisn't incitment to violence, then what is? Remember , good Doctor Goldstein, in 1994, "killed" 29 and wounded 125 Arabs at the Cave of Prophets in Hebron but he was "Murdered" by survivors as he run out of ammo

mara mcglothin

9/12/2012 4:59:59 PM

Exact;y JRC or Hugging terrorist will get you thrown out of Parliament! Looks like his rock and "hard place" just showed up. and this is the main problem I have with Islam. How many comments do you see here condoning this action?

Daniel Dravot

9/12/2012 3:56:45 PM

They should have given him 30 years. What the heck is a measley 3 years? That's as bad as Norway and their kid gloves treatment of a mass murderer.

JRC JRC

9/12/2012 2:37:09 PM

It's going to be very interesting to see what Erdogan has to say about this, given Turkey's policy of locking people up for only holding a banner.

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