Israel jails Palestinian over incitement on Facebook

An Israeli court on Tuesday sentenced a Palestinian from east Jerusalem to eight months in prison for "inciting to violence or terror" on his Facebook page.

In its ruling, the Jerusalem Magistrates Court quoted a series of statements and postings by A-Tur resident Sami Dais, 27, on Facebook between July and November last year in which he praised deadly attacks on Jews.

"Death to Israel," he wrote on his account on July 5, posting on the same day a picture of an ultra-Orthodox Jew with guns pointed to his head and a pistol and knife above, with the caption "Blood = blood! Kill them, death to settlers."

He also praised the Palestinians who killed two Jews in Jerusalem with his car, who shot and seriously wounded Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick in October, and who killed four Israelis in an attack on a synagogue the following month.

The incriminating posts were put online as a wave of violence rocked the city, during which there were clashes in east Jerusalem and several Palestinians staged lone wolf attacks.

"These circumstances increase the influence of the defendant’s calls for acts of terror and violence," the court said.

"The defendant is calling to kill and murder, and praising those who did so," said the ruling, stressing the need to deter others from committing similar "ideological crimes".

The same court had last week sentenced Omar Shalabi to nine months jail for similar offences.

Israel's justice minister had announced in December the indictments of eight east Jerusalem Palestinians for Facebook postings that incited to "terror" against Jews and Israelis.