Raed Salah confirms belief that Israeli assassination attempt was premeditated

The leader of the Islamic Movement in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 [Israel] has stated his belief that Israeli commandos tried to kill him deliberately during the raid on the Freedom Flotilla last Monday. Shaikh Raed Salah released a statement prior to a court appearance in Ashkelon on 3 June in which he said that the soldiers shot at someone with a similar appearance, thinking that the man was him. “They shot him, but I was their target,” he said.

---

The Israeli authorities released Shaikh Salah and a delegation of Palestinians living in Israel (known by Palestinians as “1948 Arabs”) after imposing certain conditions on them. The Shaikh and his colleagues had been charged with “planning to commit a crime, existing in the place of occurrence, endangering the lives of Israeli soldiers and possessing and using weapons”.

This would not have been the first time that Israel has tried to kill the charismatic Palestinian leader. Commentators have said that it is no wonder that the charges were thrown out and the defendants were released.