East Jerusalem Palestinian Behind 'Stab a Zionist' Facebook Post Charged With Incitement

An East Jerusalem resident has been accused of incitement to violence and terror due to clips he has posted on Facebook.

The Jerusalem District Prosecutor’s Office filed an indictment on Sunday against Muhamad Abu-Kaif, 21, of Sur Baher, a village on the southeastern outskirts of the city. The indictment was served with the approval of Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein, which is required in every case in which someone is suspected of incitement. The office also submitted a request for detention of Abu-Kaif until the end of the proceedings.

In the past months there has been an increase in the number of investigations and indictments related to apparent crimes of incitement – the vast majority of them against Arabs.

According to the charge sheet, Abu-Kaif posted direct calls on Facebook for acts of violence and terror, and also praised terrorists. He disseminated a video clip entitled “Stab a Zionist to support the third intifada,” in which he wrote: “You’ll die, leave our land, because we are the history here, and we are the emissaries of hell for you, the sons of Zion.”

In the clip a masked man is seen holding a bottle with flammable material at an Israeli military base with Israel flags flying, which he sets on fire. In the end, a song with captions in Arabic is played. The lyrics: “Let the knives be implanted in your chest, get stuck and stay there, the Al-Aqsa revolution has begun so tell me where to flee, make the ground tremble beneath the feet of the Zionists ”

The indictment notes that “the posting of the video clip received five 'likes.'”

In addition, according to that document, after the terror attack on a bus in Armon Hanatziv in mid-October, Abu-Kaif wrote: “God will have mercy on you, heroes, by God you have lifted our head.”

“In his above-mentioned acts the accused publicized calls to commit an act of violence or terror, or words of praise, empathy or encouragement for an act of violence or terror,” according to the charge sheet. “Based on the content of the inflammatory post and the circumstances under which it was uploaded, there is a real possibility that it will lead to an act of violence or terror.”

In the past three months 105 cases of this kind have been opened (and 27 indictments have been served), most of them for incitement on the social networks – as compared to 50 cases during the first half of 2015.