Shin Bet in Charge of Appointing Mosque Imams
Local Editor
Job interviews for Imam Positions at mosques in "Israel" are conducted not by senior clerics but by the Shin Bet (Israel's secret police), a case that uncovers "Israel's" secret surveillance of the country's Islamic leaders. A labor tribunal has revealed.
At a hearing last month, a senior government official admitted that 60 undercover inspectors were employed effectively as spies to collect information on Muslim clerics, reporting on political opinions they expressed in sermons, demonstrators they attended, and detailed rumors about their private lives, including whether they have had an affair or beat their children.
After long-term investigations, the information is handed to the Shin Bet, who assess whether they were suitable to be appointed.
In parallel to that, according to experts, around the fifth of Palestine's cultivated land was Waqf (endowment) property before 1948.
"Israel" passed most of the land to Zionist organizations, or sold it to developers.
By this, it removed the main source of income for clerics, the Islamic courts and charitable services.
Responsibility of hundreds of mosques, cemeteries and other holy sites, was handed meanwhile, to the Religious Affairs Ministry or to Islamic boards of trustees appointed by the "Israeli" government.
Meanwhile most Imams and all Islamic judges reached a state where they must submit to a security clearance interview before being awarded a state salary.
According to Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ajwa, a 36-year-old cleric, the Shin Bet rejected him as an Imam for his "extremist and too critical views of "Israel"" and "his long involvement in hostile activity, which manifested itself in incitement against the state and its Jewish citizens."
However, he admitted speaking sermons, but assured he never broke any law and never advocated violence.
He said, "I talk about our Palestinian identity and criticize the policies of the state in its treatment of us as a minority," assuring, "these are very sensitive things that they want to prevent us from talking about."
Abu Ajwa added, "Many rabbis, particularly those in the settlements, say very extreme things but no one spies on them. In fact, they have full government support."
Job interviews for Imam Positions at mosques in "Israel" are conducted not by senior clerics but by the Shin Bet (Israel's secret police), a case that uncovers "Israel's" secret surveillance of the country's Islamic leaders. A labor tribunal has revealed.
At a hearing last month, a senior government official admitted that 60 undercover inspectors were employed effectively as spies to collect information on Muslim clerics, reporting on political opinions they expressed in sermons, demonstrators they attended, and detailed rumors about their private lives, including whether they have had an affair or beat their children.
After long-term investigations, the information is handed to the Shin Bet, who assess whether they were suitable to be appointed.
In parallel to that, according to experts, around the fifth of Palestine's cultivated land was Waqf (endowment) property before 1948.
"Israel" passed most of the land to Zionist organizations, or sold it to developers.
By this, it removed the main source of income for clerics, the Islamic courts and charitable services.
Responsibility of hundreds of mosques, cemeteries and other holy sites, was handed meanwhile, to the Religious Affairs Ministry or to Islamic boards of trustees appointed by the "Israeli" government.
Meanwhile most Imams and all Islamic judges reached a state where they must submit to a security clearance interview before being awarded a state salary.
According to Sheikh Ahmed Abu Ajwa, a 36-year-old cleric, the Shin Bet rejected him as an Imam for his "extremist and too critical views of "Israel"" and "his long involvement in hostile activity, which manifested itself in incitement against the state and its Jewish citizens."
However, he admitted speaking sermons, but assured he never broke any law and never advocated violence.
He said, "I talk about our Palestinian identity and criticize the policies of the state in its treatment of us as a minority," assuring, "these are very sensitive things that they want to prevent us from talking about."
Abu Ajwa added, "Many rabbis, particularly those in the settlements, say very extreme things but no one spies on them. In fact, they have full government support."
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