Druze from Golan accused of spying, house search causes uproar

Majdal Shams on the occupied Golan.

A Druze man suspected of committing crimes against state security was the target of a raid on the Golan village of Majdal Shams on Sunday that turned violent as thousands of locals tried to prevent police from searching for him.That is what Haaretz reported on Monday after a gag order had been lifted. It seems the purpose of the raid, which was orchestrated by the Shin Bet security services and the National Unit of International Investigations, as to search for Fada Sha'ar, 27. YNet reports that the raid in fact was baout a search of his house, because the man himself, a musician who studied  several yeras in Syria and lateron in Egypt, was arrested upon his arrival at Ben Gurion airport,  when re returned from France. He has been remanded in custody for eight days on suspicion of, as Ynet report, spying for an enemy country. The precise content of the case against him is unknown, because it is still under gag order. Sha'ar is the number so and so much in what appears to be a modest string of similar spying cases, the last one of which is the case agianst Amir Makhoul and Omar Said from Haifa who are still in jail, waiting trial .

Overturning a police car

 What caused the uproar in Majdal Shams, the biggest Druze village on the occupied Golan, was the way the police forced itself into Sha'ar's house. A crowd of several hundred people closed the building in and three officers were held prisoners inside for several hours. Extra forces were called in, skirmishes broke out and some people were injured.
Fada Sha'ar's father complaned bitterly to Ynet about the way the police handled the matter. He went to the airport in order to welcome his son whom he had not seen for several years. Then he got him on the phone telling him that he was not able to get off the plane, and next he got someone on the phone who told him son was arrested. This and the way the police tried to burst into his house, was deeply offending and unacceptable for him and for the Druze community, he told the paper.   

Update 14/7: Majed Sha'ar, the father of the arrested musician, was arrested as well on Wednesday. It is not clear what the charges against him are. The case is under gag order.