Shin Bet vetoed Arab Israeli's job as mosque imam

Israel's secret police blocked a Muslim Arab citizen from being appointed to a publicly funded job, in its latest attempt to assert authority over public political debate in Israel, a case in Tel Aviv's labour court has revealed.

The case emerged when the state rejected Sheikh Ahmed Abu Awaja's application to serve as the imam at a mosque in Jaffa, a neighbourhood south of Tel Aviv. He appealed to Tel Aviv's labour court after he was told that he did not get the job even though he was the only candidate to meet the requirements. The court is due to deliver its decision today.

During the case the district prosecutor said that Abu Awaja had been rejected because the General Security Service, commonly known as the Shin Bet, believed he would "jeopardise peace and security in Jaffa, especially in view of the sensitivity of the delicate relationship between the city's Jewish and Muslim populations".

It has previously been revealed that the Shin Bet deems Israel's indigenous Arab minority population and public criticism of the state's Jewish character as security threats. It accuses Abu Awaja, who is a member of the Islamic Movement, of inciting hostility against Israel and its Jewish citizens.

The Islamic Movement is linked to the Muslim Brotherhood, which is opposed to Israel's existence, but Abu Awaja, who has been preaching for 15 years, says he has never advocated violence. "I have called on people to act within the law. The Shin Bet's interference in my nomination is political persecution and it's been going on for years," he told the daily Haaretz.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (Acri), which released its annual state of human rights report yesterday, accused the Shin Bet of harassing Israel's indigenous minority Arab citizens and restricting freedom of expression. During the past year the security service has questioned Israeli-Arab MPs and Israeli-Arabs who work for human rights groups.

The Shin Bet makes "veiled, but occasionally overt" threats and "makes it clear" to those being questioned "that they are under constant surveillance, hints that there could be repercussions in their private life and [makes] warnings that if they continue with what they are doing they are liable to have criminal charges brought against them", Acri's report says.

Abu Awaja's lawyer said that after his client applied for the job and before he sat the entrance exam, the Shin Bet summoned him for an interview, at which he was questioned about the subject of his sermons and events he attended.

"Since the establishment of Israel we have given the Arab minority the feeling they were second-rate citizens," said Dan Yakir, a lawyer from ACRI. "They are very ambivalent about the state that defines itself as Jewish."

• This article was amended on Monday December 8 2008. Dan Yakir is chief legal counsel for the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, rather than the lawyer for Abu Awaja, a Muslim cleric denied a job at a mosque in Jaffa, as the editing of the article above made it appear. This has been corrected.

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