Incitement to Violence: Indictment Against the Imam of the City of Lod, Youssef Elbaz

July 8, 2021   

The Cyber ​​Department of the State Attorney's Office filed an indictment with the Rishon LeZion Magistrate's Court this morning (Thursday) against Imam Yousef Elbaz, 62, from Lod, for inciting violence on the social network Facebook against police officers and for threats on Facebook against Lod Deputy Mayor Yossi Harosh. Want to know how I became a manager with a bombshell salary without leaving home? Worried about your children? This is what top doctors recommend doing now Here you will receive clear information: Have you returned from abroad? Have you been near a sick person? Do you want to travel? The indictment was filed with the approval of State Attorney Amit Isman. According to the indictment, filed by Attorney Yoni Haddad and Attorney Or Arber, Elbaz served between 1991 and 2018 as the imam of the Al Omri Mosque - the Great Mosque, in the city of Lod, and even after this period he was recognized as an imam even though he did not hold an official position. In recent years, the defendant has occasionally delivered sermons at the mosque on Fridays and has delivered sermons at other mosques in the country. Imam Elbaz maintains a Facebook profile to which thousands of friends and thousands of followers are linked. He is accused of having posted on Facebook last month a clip from a film that depicts the brutal murder of two police officers, and to which he attached text calling for violence and encouraging acts of violence against police officers. The post was viewed by thousands of people, and served as a platform for others to express their support for the content through emoticons (emojis), shares or comments. In addition, Elbaz is accused of publishing a post containing a threat against the Deputy Mayor of Lod, Yossi Harosh, as well as other parties, in connection with the construction of an access road near a school in the city of Lod. He wrote, among other things: "An open letter to the mayor... I suggest you stop your bullies, because your provocation will set us back a month (referring to the wave of violent riots that took place in the city of Lod and other places in the country on a nationalist-racist basis, which included attacks by police and security forces, all during Operation "Guardian of the Walls"), and you will pay the price for these actions. And as for the war that you are threatening us with, Yossi Harosh... we promise you, we will be responsible enough to make you understand that we will give up our souls cheaply in order to educate you and stop your bullying." Concurrently with the indictment, the prosecution filed a request to set conditions for Elbaz's release under restrictive conditions until the end of the proceedings. Among other things, the court is asked to prohibit the defendant from accessing the Internet, to prohibit him from leaving the country, and to set financial guarantees for him. The request states: "The potential damage from committing the aforementioned offenses is real and obvious, as it concerns the fear of inflammatory and threatening statements online, from a figure who has great influence over a wide circle of people, and against the backdrop of the tense times in which we find ourselves. It has often been determined in rulings that the social network is the modern 'town square,' and that publications of this type may be more effective... This is someone who was previously asked by security officials to act to calm things down, expressed a willingness to do so, but in fact published serious statements shortly thereafter.""