By Haaretz Service
Over 70,000 Israeli Arabs attended an annual Islamic Movement festival in Umm al-Fahm on Friday.
The rally, arranged by the movement's northern branch and taking place for the ninth year, was held in the city's local soccer stadium. This year's event was held under the banner "Al-Aqsa is in danger."
The movement's leader, Sheikh Raed Salah, did not take part in the festival, as he is standing trial on security offenses along with several other movement officials.
The mufti of Jerusalem attended the rally, as well as the spokesman of the orthodox church in the capital and Druze representatives from the Golan Heights. The rally began with a televised speech by Salah, taken during a court hearing.
The deputy of the Islamic Movement's northern branch, Sheikh Kamel Khatib, said the title for the rally gains real significance this year due to a warning by the public security minister a few weeks ago that Jewish extremists were planning to harm the mosque.