Sheikh Raed Salah Abu Shakra (Arabic: رائد صلاح, Hebrew: ראאד סלאח; born 1958) is a Palestinian religious leader from Umm al-Fahm, Israel.

Salah was elected mayor of his town Umm al-Falm, an Israeli-Arab city bordering the Green Line, three times.

Salah is a popular figure in the Muslim world and among Palestinians for his staunch defense of al-Aqsa against what they see as Israeli attempts to take it over.

[1] He has held sermons praising the "defenders of al-Aqsa" and his Northern Branch has organized free bus trips from Palestinian localities in Israel to Jerusalem in order to strengthen the bond between Muslims and the holy sites.

He has been arrested numerous times; on suspicion of fundraising for Hamas and for his popular sermons that Israeli authorities claim often involve incitement of violence.

Professor Elie Rekhess, director of the Adenauer Program for Jewish-Arab Studies at Tel Aviv University in 2006 stated:[3] If there were a poll run today to establish who is the most popular leader in Israel, he would be up there.

He certainly sees political Islam as a major factor in the formulation in the coming years in Israel, and he sees his party as having a strong say.Roee Nahmias, writing for the Israeli news site Ynet wrote in 2007:[9] Since his release from prison two years ago Sheikh Salah has been steadily building a name for himself as a leader for all Muslims, this despite the fact that he lives in Israel.

By focusing on social issues he has won over people from the bottom up, though his followers say his humbleness, manners and simple attire also helped establish his persona as a leader.In an interview in 2011, Amal Jamal, professor of politics, Tel Aviv University described Salah as offering a "warm, spiritual, inclusive" version of Islam even secularists can sympathize with.

It remains one of the foundations of the Zionist enterprise.He however downplays the schism between the Northern and Southern Branches of the Islamic movement, who does field candidates in national elections.

"[2] In 2011, while addressing an audience of students from Tel Aviv University, he reiterated his anti-occupation position stating: "We must keep fighting until we remove the Israeli occupation and free the holy Jerusalem.

It continued: "Mr Salah was arrested and questioned over these allegations in Israel and released when they were revealed as being wholly fabricated with no evidence."

[13] In 2011, Salah published an article in Sawt al-Haq w'al-Huriyya in which he rhetorically asked "Were 4,000 Jewish clerks absent by chance, or was there another reason?"

[17][18] In a related case, the court acquitted Salah of charges of rioting and "involvement in an illegal gathering" in connection with the protest.

A judge ruled that the charges, brought by police, were "inconsistent with witness testimony and video evidence produced by the defence".

[20] In 2007, Salah held a sermon in a mosque in East Jerusalem following archaeological digs near the Mughrabi Gate, which leads up the Temple Mount and the al-Aqsa compound.

[21] During the sermon he said: We [Muslims] have never allowed ourselves to knead [the dough for] the bread that breaks the fast in the holy month of Ramadan with children's blood.

On 2 October 2009, while the clashes were ongoing, Salah gave a speech which was branded incitement by the Israeli police, claiming that he had egged the protestors on.

One Israeli police source claimed that Salah tried to provide cover for an activist who shot at a commando during the raid, but that the gunman had already been hit.

[35] In June, Salah was released on NIS 150,000 bail, but placed under house arrest and temporarily barred from leaving Israel.

[42] He was due to attend a Palestine Solidarity Campaign meeting with Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn, Yasmin Qureshi, and Richard Burden.

[44][45] The conditions for his release included wearing an electronic tag, observing a night-time curfew, reporting to immigration officials, and refraining from public-speaking.

The tribunal stated that it is "satisfied that the appellant has engaged in the unacceptable behaviour of fostering hatred which might lead to intercommunity violence in the UK.

[50] In August 2017, a month after Salah was released from prison, having served a nine-month sentence for his 2007 sermon in East Jerusalem, he was again arrested.

This time on allegations of membership in an illegal organization (the Northern Branch) and of inciting to terror over a sermon he gave in July the same year in which he praised the "martyrs of Al-Aqsa" and those guarding it.

[55] While he was taken to prison, hundreds of his supporters gathered outside in a show of solidarity with their preacher, chanting "Every Muslim and Arab in the world is proud of you — I do not respect the court's decision."

Jamal Zahalka, former leader of the Arab-Israeli Balad party, said that Salah was the victim of a witch hunt: "this is another milestone in his political persecution.