An Arab resident of the Old City of Jerusalem was arrested on suspicion of spreading violent propaganda on his Facebook page, police announced Monday.

Screenshot of Mahmoud Asila’s Facebook page, with writing in Arab calling to “Run over people for the sake of Jerusalem”. – Photo: Facebook screenshot

Mahmoud Asila, 32, was arrested last Tuesday for posting photos and videos deemed as “incitement,” which called for running over security forces and for inciting car attacks against Israelis in general.

An investigation by the Jerusalem Police revealed that after the November 5th car attack – in which Ibrahim al-Akry, an Israeli citizen from Shuafat, drove into bystanders and killed a Border Police officer and wounded 13 people – Asila posted images and videos on his Facebook page praising the terrorist and curses against security forces who shot and killed the attacker. Asila also posted photos of himself holding guns, knives and an assault rifle.

In a screen shot of Asila’s Facebook page, his background photo shows a picture of a car driving into Israeli soldiers, with the words in Arabic, “run over for the sake of Jerusalem.”

Another screen shot from Asila’s page showed a picture of the Egged bus driver Yussuf al-Ramuni, 32, who was found to have committed suicide by hanging, though the Arab media has argued he was murdered. Asila wrote about al-Ramuni:  “May you have the blessing of paradise/ the sons of dogs have hanged you.”

The postings of Asila, according to the Jerusalem Police, garnered thousands of reactions from his followers in support of his cartoons and photos calling for running over Israelis.

The police investigation also revealed that Asila had made threats to the 16-year-old boy from Nazareth Mohammed Zoabi, a cousin of MK Hanin Zoabi, who published videos in June in Arabic, Hebrew and English, supporting Israel and calling for the return of the three kidnapped boys – declaring him a traitor of the Palestinian people.

Asila took responsibility for the Facebook posts but claimed they are a part of his “freedom of speech,” and that he was responding to abuse against him on Facebook.

View original The Jerusalem Post publication at: http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Politics-And-Diplomacy/Jerusalem-man-arrested-for-incitement-against-Israelis-on-his-Facebook-382700