Arab Preacher Convicted on Incitement, Racism Charges

A Yerushalayim court has convicted an Arab preacher for incitement to violence and racism. Oma Abu Sara, an imam who generally preaches on the Temple Mount, was convicted on those charges in the wake of a sermon he gave on November 28, 2014, on the subject of “the plans of the Jews according to the Koran,” in which he said, among other things, that “the Jews are coming to slaughter you. The time has come to fight them… The loyal Muslims will fight them, and the loyal soldiers of the Caliphate will come to liberate us from them. That day will be soon.

“The Jews are the murderers of prophets,” Abu Sara added.

In its decision, the court said that “at this time, Arabs and Jews live together in this land, and that is apparently not going to change in the near future. The suspect and his accomplices, through their words, aggravate the tension between the groups, and the results are the endless stabbing attacks we see daily.”

The court also accepted the stance of the prosecution – that there are times when freedom of speech must be limited – and that the suspect needed to be silenced because of the danger he posed to the public.