TEL AVIV, May 20, 2015 (WAFA) – The Jerusalem Court of Magistrate has sentenced East Jerusalem resident Sami Deis to eight months in prison, for creating and managing a Facebook page entitled “Death to Israel,” according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

It said though Deis, a 27-year-old resident of Shuafat, has no criminal background, and though he admitted to his crimes as part of a plea bargain, Israeli Judge Shmuel Herbst opted for what is seen as a rather severe punishment.

The case of Dies comes a week after an East Jerusalem sentenced 44-year-old Omar Shalhabi, a Fatah activist, to nine months in jail for a number of Facebook statuses he wrote between July and October last year.

In Deis' case, Herbst was quoted, “The defendants' calls for acts of killing and blood-spilling are unequivocal and clear.” “The defendant calls for murder and killing, and praises those who would carry out such acts. There is no doubt as to his intentions, and among his statements are none that can be interpreted in other ways.”

Among the posts to the Facebook page included statements such as, “Death to Israel – post this on all pages and accounts, post it on all profiles, all of the Palestinians and Arabs on Facebook,” “Start fires in Israel,” and “Blood=Blood! Kill them, death to settlers!”

Most of Palestinians living in Jerusalem are concentrated in the Eastern side of the city which was occupied in 1967. The area is considered an occupied territory in international law and is not recognized as an Israeli land. Israel has nonetheless annexed the area to its jurisdiction since then.

M.N/M.H