Ramallah: Khader Obaid, principal of Al Eisawiyah Elementary School, has been suspended by the Israeli Education Ministry for two weeks.
Obaid coaches the Hilal Al Quds football team which recently held up a banner praising the Palestinian martyr Mosabah Abu Subaih, who killed two Israelis and injured eight others in occupied East Jerusalem earlier this month. The team also commemorated Abu Subaih with a moment of silence. The photo of the team carrying the banner went viral on social media.
Other team members were interrogated, ordered to pay hefty fines and put on seven-day house arrest.
Israeli Education Minister Naftali Bennett, who ordered Obaid’s suspension, accused the team of “incitement”.
Several Palestinian rights groups have issued statements slamming Israel’s systematic campaign against the Hilal Al Quds team.
Abu Subaih, 39, of the holy city’s Silwan district, had been barred by Israeli authorities from visiting the holy Muslim site of Al Haram Al Sharif, which houses both the Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosque, the third holiest site in Islam.
He spent most of his time in Al Haram Al Sharif, where he vigorously defended the holy Muslim shrine from Jewish raids.
Before the attack, he posted on his Facebook page that “even if he could not reach his only love [Al Aqsa Mosque] with his body, he would reach it with his soul”.
“I will never love or adore anything in this life the way I love and adore Al Aqsa Mosque. It is the only love of my life,” he said.
Israel has been working hard to stop Palestinian defenders of the Al Aqsa Mosque known as Al Murabiteen from entering Al Haram Al Sharif.
The Murabiteen have been effective at discouraging Jewish raids on the holy Muslim site.
Israel has taken draconian measures to curb their presence there, including denying them medical insurance or even revoking their identity cards.
A status quo agreement that has been in place for six decades, allows Jews to visit Al Haram Al Sharif, but not perform religious rituals there.
However, several Jewish groups have been campaigning to encourage illegal raids on Al Haram Al Sharif.
The expansion of Israeli colonies in occupied territories, as well as these escalating Jewish raids have sparked a spate of violence which began in October 2015, leaving 240 Palestinians and 38 Israelis and foreign nationals dead.
