World
New Concern from page 26
The movement is divided into two
branches: the more radical northern
branch, which eschews the Israeli
political process and calls on follow-
ers to abstain from voting in national
Israeli elections, and the more moderate
southern branch, which is represented in
Israel's Knesset.
Sheik Ibrahim Sansur, a Knesset mem-
ber who leads the movement's southern
branch, said the Islamic Movement is
united by the goal "to crystallize the reli-
gious and national identity of the Arab
minority inside Israel."
Umm al-Fahm is a visible example of
the movement's success. Its hilly land-
On The Record
scape is dotted with the rounded domes
Representatives of the northern branch of mosques built by the movement as
refused JIM requests for interviews. But
well as dozens of other movement-fund-
Sheik Ra'ad Salah, a key leader of the
ed projects, including women's education
branch and the former mayor of Umm
centers, a college for the study of Islamic
al-Fahm, made headlines during the
law and Arabic language, and even a
Jewish High Holidays when he called
hospital under construction. A growing
on supporters to "liberate" the Al Aksa
number — perhaps a majority — of
Mosque in Jerusalem "with blood and
women and girls wear headscarves, and
fire," touching off days of clashes between men sport thick beards.
police and Arab rioters.
The Islamic Movement started to
take off here following the 1967 Six-Day
War. It was then that Israel's Arab citi-
zens could re-establish ties with their
Palestinian brethren in the West Bank
and Gaza Strip that had been cut off
since the 1948 war of Israeli indepen-
dence.
Many Arab Israelis attended Islamic
colleges in the West Bank and Gaza,
sparking a return to devout observance
for some inside Israel.
The movement was strengthened by
the example of the Islamic revolution in
Iran in 1979.
A product of the post-1967 Islamic
awakening in Israel, Salah returned
from his religious studies in Hebron and
Nablus as a leader of the movement. He
has been accused of raising millions of
dollars for Hamas — a charge he denies.
Yitzhak Reiter, a professor of politi-
cal science at the Hebrew University
and Ashkelon Academic College, says
Salah's broader goal is to connect Israel's
Muslims to the larger Islamic world and
ALL-YOU-CAN-SEE
BUFFET.
Friday Night Live!:
Check out performances by electronic-music trio ARS.
Target Family Sunday:
Cozy up for Christmas stories performed by Yvonne Healy.
Now on View:
Avedon Fashion Photographs 1944-2000
For tickets visit dia.org or the DIA Box Office.
2, Dg77,1M
fr3CE
5 2 0 0 Woodward Ave.
28
December 10 • 2009
f'o ,r rhF.
D A
313-83 3 - ? 90 0
.••=111.,
DETROIT
INSTITUTE
OF ARTS
make Jerusalem the future seat of an
Islamic caliphate.
Salah preaches that Israel's archeologi-
cal activities near the Temple Mount are
part of a secret Jewish plan to destabilize
the Al Aksa Mosque, provoke its collapse
and pave the way for the construction of
the Jewish Holy Temple. Such charges are
dismissed as fantasy and incitement by
Israeli authorities.
Nohad Ali, a sociologist at Haifa
University and an expert on the Islamic
Movement, says Salah and his followers
nevertheless believe such conspiracies
are true.
The fears have been heightened by
the agitation of some Israelis to visit
the Temple Mount and messianic talk
by a few radicalsof rebuilding the Holy
Temple, Ali said.
Though it's not in the interests of
the movement to rush headlong into
confrontation with Israel, All said, the
movement continues to keep the issue a
central one in the community, organiz-
ing buses daily to the Temple Mount
compound from Arab towns and villages
throughout the country.
Umm al-Fahm has one of the highest
unemployment rates in Israel.
Ahmad Kabaha, the math teacher who
leads students in prayer, says he admires
the movement for its grass-roots work.
"People tend to think about them in
a political way:' Kabaha said, "but I see
their importance in how it helps with
problems within our society, in doing
good deeds, in helping the poor." I I
Philanthropist Charged
media sources quoted unnamed sources
Los Angeles/JTA — Elliott Broidy, a major
identifying the official as the former
philanthropist in the Los Angeles Jewish
state Comptroller Alan Hevesi; his lawyer
community, pleaded guilty to the felony
reportedly declined to comment.
charge of rewarding official misconduct.
By raising $800 million, Broidy turned
Broidy, also a leading investor in the
his Markstone Capital Group into the larg-
Israeli economy, admitted that he made
est private equity fund in Israel at a time
nearly $1 million in payoffs to four senior
when the Palestinian intifada was at its
New York state officials as he pursued an
height and most investors were shunning
investment from the state public pension
the Jewish state.
fund, according to New York State Attorney
Broidy has also been a GOP heavy hit-
General Andrew Cuomo. He has agreed
ter, serving as finance chairman of the
to forfeit $18 million in management fees
Republican National Committee.
and faces up to four years in prison, the
Broidy's New York attorney, Christopher
Wall Street Journal reported.
Clark, issued a statement saying that his
The development is part of Cuomo's
client "regrets the actions that brought
wide-ranging pay-to-play probe on wheth- about this course of events, but is pleased
er decisions about how to invest retirees'
to have resolved this matter with the New
money in the giant pension fund were
York Attorney General and will be cooper-
wrongly influenced by money and politics. ating in the ongoing investigation!'
Cuomo said that Broidy has acknowl-
Clark also said that Broidy has
edged paying at least $75,000 for high-
"resigned from all operational, super-
price luxury trips to Italy and Israel for a
visory, and other roles at the firm of
top official in the New York state comp-
Markstone Partners in order to focus his
troller's office and his relatives. Several
attention on legal matters!'