Israel’s Islamic Movement: Context and Possible Implications

Israel outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement on Tuesday over ties to terror groups and attempts to incite violence against Israelis. Israelis believe the measure can help bring an end to the recent spate of violence; the move gives authorities the right to arrest anyone caught working with the group. However, Arab-Israeli groups have already called for a general strike on Thursday, and one Arab-Israeli member of Knesset slammed the ruling as a “declaration of war.”

The northern branch of the Islamic Movement is the hardline splinter group of the broader Muslim Brotherhood movement in Israel. The movement – with a membership of roughly 20,000 – rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s after winning several municipal elections in northern Israel.

Under the leadership of the radical cleric Raed Salah, the northern branch has leveraged the Arab Israeli population’s sense of disenfranchisement to oppose Israeli policies and its very existence as a Jewish state. The group habitually calls on its members to take to the streets, boycotts all interaction with the government, and regularly accuses Israel of altering the status quo on Jerusalem’s Temple Mount. Salah’s home-base of Umm al-Fahm – Israel’s second-largest Arab city – annually hosts tens of thousands in rallies to “defend” Jerusalem’s contentious al-Aqsa Mosque.

Salah himself has forged close relations with Hamas in Gaza, met with an Iranian intelligence agent, and sailed with the 2010 Gaza flotilla on its ill-fated journey to the Strip. The 57-year old Salah has been arrested several times over connections to terror groups, incitement, and assaulting a police officer.

Israel’s decision to ban the organization comes shortly before Salah is set to serve an 11-month prison term. His sentence has, so far, only seemed to enhance his leadership. Other Arab-Israeli leaders criticized the sentence, with some calling it a ruling “against the entire Arab population,” while a member of Knesset urged: “We must stop the campaign against the Islamic Movement.”

Many Israelis believe Salah has contributed to the current upsurge in terror attacks rocking the country. His annual rallies for al-Aqsa and constant claims that Israel is altering the status quo – coupled with his longstanding ties to Hamas – have played a significant role in the escalating anti-Israel fervor among Palestinians in East Jerusalem. This was the logic behind the ban. But the move could also backfire, and help Salah generate new adherents. 

Grant Rumley is a research analyst at Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Follow him on Twitter @GrantRumley