The decision to outlaw the northern wing of the Islamic Movement in Israel was announced by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government on November 17, 2015, days after attacks claimed by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or ISIS, left 130 dead in Paris. Although the ban had been long in the making, the timing was patently opportunistic, with Netanyahu even comparing Israel’s Islamic Movement to ISIS. It is still unclear how the Israeli intelligence services and police will enforce the ban, given that the group has thousands of paid-up members among Israel’s large Palestinian minority, and ties to welfare associations and charities in Palestinian communities across Israel.
For background on the situation of Palestinian citizens of Israel, see Jonathan Cook, “The Myth of Israel’s Liberal Supreme Court Exposed,” Middle East Report Online, February 23, 2012, and “Israel’s Palestinian Minority Thrown Into a Maelstrom,” Middle East Report Online, June 6, 2010.
