Macron said the group would be ordered dissolved Wednesday, when a mosque that relayed a denunciation of the teacher is also to shut.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

The decision to shut down the Cheikh Yassine Collective, which is named after Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the Gaza-based terror organization Hamas, would be taken at a Wednesday cabinet meeting, he said. Macron did not provide details on how the group was "directly implicated" in the attack.

A terror investigation is underway into the killing by an 18-year-old Moscow-born Chechen refugee, who was later shot dead by police. The killer has been identified by authorities as Abdoullakh Anzorov.

A judicial official said early Wednesday that seven people detained in an investigation into the grisly slaying, including two minors, were to go before an investigating magistrate later in the day for eventual preliminary charges. The seven were among 16 people, including five adolescents, initially detained for questioning. Nine are being released. The official was not authorized to be quoted by name.

Investigators are trying to learn how the killer, who lived in the Normandy town of Evreux, set up his encounter with Samuel Paty, whether there was complicity and whether the beheading was premeditated.

Speaking after a meeting with regional officials working to counter radical Islamists, Macron added that other associations and individuals are on the radar to be shut or silenced.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 people gathered in drizzling rain to honor Paty where he was beheaded Friday as he left school in Conflans-Sainte-Honorine, northwest of Paris. Bouquets of flowers were piled in front of the school.

Paty had shown caricatures of the prophet of Islam to his class earlier this month for a discussion on freedom of expression. His civics course led to parental complaints and threats.

Speaking in the Seine-St.-Denis region, northeast of Paris, Macron reiterated Tuesday that he wanted "tangible results" to combat "an ideology of destruction of the [French] Republic."

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said later on BFMTV that the person in question helped disseminate the virulent message of a student's father against the teacher in what increasingly appeared to be a case turning in part on a spiraling fever on social media among some Muslim individuals or groups.

The beheading resonated far beyond France with the grand imam of Al-Azhar, the Sunni Muslim seat of learning in Cairo, dissociating himself and all Muslims from the attack in a message read to faith leaders at an interfaith prayer service Tuesday in Rome. Calling the beheading "sinful and criminal," he also said that intellectual integrity is compromised by "insulting religions and abusing sacred symbols under the slogan of freedom of expression."

A mosque in the northeast Paris suburb of Pantin is being closed for six months starting Wednesday night. A sign posted by the regional prefecture at the mosque entrance said the house of worship would be closed for six months − with a six-month prison sentence for violators.

The Pantin mosque is being punished for relaying the angry father's message on social media that called for mobilization against the teacher. The father quoted his 13-year-old daughter as saying the teacher had asked Muslims to leave the classroom -- a version that was contested by Paty himself, according to press reports.

Authorities say the mosque has long had an imam following the Salafist path, a rigorous interpretation of the Muslim holy book.

Pantin was also the home of an 18-year-old Pakistani refugee who three weeks earlier attacked and injured two people with a meat cleaver.

A national memorial event will be held Wednesday evening to pay tribute to Paty in the courtyard of Sorbonne University, a centuries-old symbol of the "spirit of Enlightenment" and "a forum to express ideas and freedoms," the French presidency said.

The post After beheading, France to ban pro-Hamas group in war on Islamist 'separatism' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The man, identified only as F. Hassan, was charged with beheading and shooting people who refused to join the jihadist movement in 2015 in Syria's Homs region, the prosecutors said.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Prosecutors, who are seeking a life sentence, said that the man made a "death list" of people who did not identify with the goals of Islamic State. With an unnamed accomplice, he beheaded an imam and later with armed companions killed at least 25 more people, including women and children, they said.

"According to the charges, F. Hassan ... took part in the execution of at least two people, and personally shot dead another civilian," the prosecutors said in their statement.

The man was caught with forged documents in Budapest's main airport at the end of 2018 after an investigation that was also conducted in Malta, Belgium and Greece, with the help of Eurojust, the European Union's judicial cooperation unit.

The post Hungary charges Syrian jihadist with 'crimes against humanity' appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The Muslim American Society's Philadelphia chapter and the Leaders Academy, a gathering place for homeschooled children that rents space at the site, issued a joint statement on Wednesday that sought to explain how the questionable material found its way into an annual event meant to celebrate diversity in Muslim communities.

A video uploaded to the group's Facebook page showed children dancing to a revolutionary anthem often used by Islamist groups, and two young girls reading from a prepared text. One said, "We will chop off their heads, and we will liberate ... Al-Aqsa Mosque."

The contested site, revered by Jews as the Temple Mount and by Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary, is at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The compound is the holiest site for Jews and the third-holiest site in Islam. It has been a flashpoint of violence in the past.

The Facebook video, which has since been taken down, sparked outrage and an ongoing investigation by the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations.

"Over the last decade our members have poured their soul and resources to create a harmonious, peaceful and engaged community," the statement said. "We are very sad that within minutes all of this work was tarnished and we realize the mistake is ours to own. ... We are deeply saddened to have hurt our partners in the Jewish community and beyond."

The April 17 "Umma Day" event was intended to showcase diversity, with 18 countries represented and children singing songs from various Muslim cultures and wearing customary dress, according to the statement. Officials said that a volunteer aide who selected the songs out of a desire to represent Palestinian people "feels terrible she made a mistake" and has since stepped down. A large number of Palestinian immigrants attend Al-Hidaya mosque.

"The children did not understand this song as their command of Arabic is not advanced," the statement said. The speech, it said, "was likewise a selection that primarily sought to highlight the children's capacity to read and project Arabic rhetoric; however, they have not yet mastered enough grammar to comprehend the words."

The Muslim American Society's lawyer, Timothy Welbeck, said Wednesday that he didn't know who chose the speech or why it was selected.

The Leaders Academy does not consider itself a school – a designation that would require it to register with the state Department of Education – but a gathering place for children following a state-approved cyber school curriculum. The Academy supplies tutors to keep the students on task and answer questions, according to Welbeck and also offers Arabic language and religious instruction.

The Leaders Academy and the Muslim American Society said that they have taken steps to prevent a repeat of what they called a "grave mistake," including new operating procedures, a new advisory council and sensitivity training.

"We appreciate the very detailed and thorough statement and apology that was released today," said Nancy Baron-Baer, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League in Philadelphia. "We understand that people make mistakes. With that said ... it's incumbent on the adults in the room to understand what was being said and recognize that words like that are absolutely unacceptable at any time, in any language."

The statement from the Muslim groups also said it has been targeted with abusive phone calls in the wake of the video and two protests at the building in which crowds shouted "hateful messages." It said it has increased its security.

The post Muslim groups apologize for video of children singing about decapitation appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.