The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) has spoken out in condemnation of the Israeli government’s decision to ban the Islamic Movement, on accusations the group’s leadership may have incited and encouraged the recent wave of violence against Israeli police in Jerusalem and across the West Bank. Consequently, the Israeli regime has also issued travel bans against the movement’s top brass, including prominent resistance figure, Sheikh Raed Salah.

On Monday evening the offices of the Islamic Movement, situated in the area of Ibn Taymiyah, was raided by Israeli security forces.

MJC president, Maulana Igsaan Hendricks expressed admiration for the defiant stance taken by Salah following the announcement of the ban; the Islamic Movement leader assuring that no such action would change his position as the group’s leader.

“If there is a movement that understood the strategy of navigating through the space of available to them (under occupation) then it is the Islamic Movement of Palestine,” he said, highlighting the group’s persistent resistance against Israeli oppression.

According to statistics, roughly 1.4 million Palestinians currently reside in Israel, of which 800 000 are Muslim. Considering Israel’s population of 8 million, Hendricks was not far-fetched in his belief that Palestinians living in Israel could prove the biggest challenge to the occupation.

While the movement has resisted the temptation of involving itself in Israeli politics at a parliamentary level, it does operate at a smaller, municipal level. Hendricks said the party’s banning would be strongly felt within Arab villages along the Green Line area, where the movement has been extremely prominent.

“All of this is coming at a very big blow for the Islamic Movement, the mobilisation of the 1.4 million Palestinians around the preservation of the sacred holy places of the Muslims and Christians, as well as the programmes administered under the banner of the Islamic Movement.

“In addition to that, many of their monies have been frozen by the Israeli occupation. But we salute the Islamic Movement for their firm position,” he reiterated.

Hendricks urged the South African community maintain and reaffirm their support for the Islamic Movement in Israel. VOC (Mubeen Banderker)