ISA (Israel Security Agency – Shin Bet) agents and accompanied by  large police force raided the Um el-Fahm office of the Al-Aqsa Association after Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered the office closed due to links to Hamas.

As a result of Barak’s order, agents moved in on motzei Shabbos, closing the office, confiscating documents and computers, simultaneously, freezing assets tied to the group. One of the organization’s affiliates, “Charity Coalition”, is being directly linked to Hamas activities.

The raid was timed just 24 hours after the Israeli Islamic Association (IIA) held a rally in Um el-Fahm, a northern Israeli municipality, under the banner “Al-Aqsa is in Danger,” calling for an end to the “Israeli occupation of Jerusalem.”

The IIA in the past has been linked to Hamas, with some of its leaders even imprisoned for their anti-Israel terror ties, but nevertheless, the government has been afraid to declare the organization illegal, permitting its leaders to continue holding rallies and events which call for the downfall of the Jewish state and its leaders.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)