In March 2021, DEFEND JERUSALEM issued a formal request to the office of MK Amir Ohana, then the Minister for Internal Security, to immediately stop A’had El-Rishaq from operating inside Jerusalem and to stop him from participating, leading, directing, or organizing any illegal activity against the State of Israel.
El-Rishaq is a resident of the Isawiya neighborhood in the Israeli capital and serves Palestinian security prisoners that are incarcerated inside Israel on behalf of Fatah. The men—and women—he works for and interacts with are terrorists who have committed security offenses against Israeli citizens, tourists, and other residents of the country; as part of his work for Fatah, El-Rishaq also interacts with offenders who have served their sentences, as well as with their families. Many of those who El-Rishaq works with are residents of East Jerusalem.
Working on behalf of a known terrorist organization in the open, without any effort to hide his activities, is a threat to the safety of the Israeli people and the residents of Jerusalem. His brazenness is a statement to the effect that the State of Israel does not maintain full control and, in essence, sovereignty over what goes on inside its capital city. It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that El-Rishaq interacts with known terrorists and criminals, their enablers, and their families, in the course of his duties for Fatah. DEFEND JERUSALEM has called upon the Israel National Police (INP) and the Jerusalem District to immediately stop all of El-Rishaq’s activities.
