On Oct. 26, 2011, an immigration tribunal in Britain concluded that Raed Salah had engaged in “the unacceptable behavior of fostering hatred” that might lead to intercommunity violence in the UK.
The tribunal considered five pieces of evidence against Salah: a poem he wrote, a speech in which he invoked a blood libel slur against Jews, claims that Israel intends to destroy the Aksa Mosque, charges he currently faces in Israel for incitement to violence and anti-Semitism, and his conviction for funding organizations linked to Hamas.
It added: “In the balancing exercise necessary for any consideration of proportionality, great weight must be attached to the public interest of preventing disorder or crime.” “We are satisfied that the appellant’s words and actions tend to be inflammatory, divisive, insulting and likely to foment tension and radicalism.
The Home Office welcomed the decision to deport Salah. “We are pleased the court agrees Salah’s removal would be conducive to the public good and that he has engaged in unacceptable behavior. We will seek to deport him at the earliest opportunity,” a Home Office spokesman said.
Salah has five days to appeal the decision in an appeal to the High Court and then another 72 hours before he can be deported
Mr Salah, 52, is the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel. He was born in Umm al-Fahm - an Israeli-Arab city bordering the Green Line - and was elected as the mayor of that city three times; in 1989, 1993 and 1997.
He became popular among Arab extremists after he was jailed for two years by Israeli authorities in 2003 over allegations he had helped fund the Arab terrorist organization Hamas. In 2010 he served a five-month sentence after being convicted of assaulting a police officer and leading a violent demonstration.
On October 2, 2009, Salah gave a speech which was branded "incitement" by police. Arab riots over the Temple Mount were taking place in Jerusalem and surrounding villages, and police claimed that he had incited rioters to violence.
In June, UK Home Secretary Theresa May tried to prevent a planned visit by banning him. Salah's name was on a database of banned people, but the information was routed to an incorrect terminal at Heathrow Airport.
On June 28, 2011, he was detained in London. Before being arrested, Salah spoke at a meeting in central London, sponsored by the UK Islamist media group Middle East Monitor and the radical Palestine Solidarity Campaign.
He was also scheduled to participate in a speaking tour with Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood figure Ahmed Nofal, Viva Palestina leader George Galloway and other radicals, and due to attend a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting in the House of Commons on the following evening.
His request to be released on bail while awaiting the outcome of court proceedings, despite the Home Office Secretary's decision to bar him from the country, was granted on Friday, July 15. He was released on Monday, July 18, under strict conditions that included a surety of $49,000, wearing an electronic tag, observing a night-time curfew, reporting to immigration officials, refraining from public-speaking and staying at the home of friend.
In a statement, Home Secretary Theresa May said, "I will seek to exclude an individual if I consider that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good, and the government makes no apologies for refusing people access to the UK if we believe that they might seek to undermine our society. Coming here is a privilege that we refuse to extend to those who seek to subvert our shared values."
A judicial review of Britain's June arrest took place on September 30th, 2011; the English High Court ruled that Salah was entitled to damages due to "wrongful detention". Salah was arrested at his hotel without reason and it was only days later that any explanation was offered by the authorities.
Mr Justice Nicol’s judgment stated that: “I have accepted his (Salah’s) argument that he was not given proper and sufficient reasons for his arrest on June 28 nor was he given them until some time on June 30. He is entitled to damages for wrongful detention during that period.”
Raed Salah is known for blaming the Jews for the Twin Towers Sept. 11 disaster. He wrote for the October 5, 2001 issue of the weekly Sawt al-Haq w’al-Huriyya (Voice of Justice and Freedom), an article that states:
“A suitable way was found to warn the 4,000 Jews who work every day at the Twin Towers to be absent from their work on September 11, 2001, and this is really what happened! Were 4,000 Jewish clerks absent [from their jobs] by chance, or was there another reason? At the same time, no such warning reached the 2,000 Muslims who worked every day in the Twin Towers, and therefore there were hundreds of Muslim victims.”
He also accused Jews of using children’s blood to bake bread in reports of his speech in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Wadi Joz on February 16, 2007. Israeli newspapers at the time quoted him as saying:
“We [Muslims] have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood. Whoever wants a more thorough explanation, let him ask what used to happen to some children in Europe, whose blood was mixed in with the dough of the [Jewish] holy bread.”
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