Sheik Raed Salah (2nd L) arrives at Rishon Lezion Justice court in Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Aug. 15, 2017. Israeli police said in a statement on Tuesday that it arrested a senior Islamic leader over suspected "incitement." Sheik Raed Salah is the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, a movement Israel outlawed in November 2015. (Xinhua/JINI/Gideon Markowicz)
JERUSALEM, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police said in a statement on Tuesday that it arrested a senior Islamic leader over suspected "incitement."
Sheik Raed Salah is the head of the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement, a movement Israel outlawed in November 2015.
Israeli authorities charge that the movement has "incited" tensions over East Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound, a flashpoint site that Israel annexed, together with the rest of East Jerusalem, after seizing the territory from Jordan in 1976.
Police Spokeswoman Luba Samri said Salah was taken for questioning in the headquarters of Lahav 433, Israel's FBI, and the police will decide later in the day if they will ask the court to remand him in custody.
According to the spokeswoman, Salah was accused of leading a campaign stating that "Al-Aqsa is in danger" and Israel wants to change the status quo in the holy site, an allegation denied by Israel.
Last month, the new electronic gates Israel installed at the entrance to the holy mosque sparked massive protests, which claimed the lives of at least four Palestinians.
"On several occasions, after the (Islamic) Movement was outlawed, the inciter spoke before an audience and a series of statements were published in the media," a police statement said.
An examination of the publications "indicates that some of the statements raise suspicion of committing offenses," the statement added.
Salah's wife, Um Omar, told Hebrew-language Ynet news site that some 20 police officers stormed into their home, confiscating computers and arresting her husband without telling them the reason for his arrest.
Salah has a history of clashes with Israeli authorities.
In 2013, He was sentenced to nine months in prison for "inciting violence" and "racism" during a rally against Israeli construction near the Al-Aqsa compound in 2007. In the rally, he called on "all Muslims and Arabs to start an uprising in support of holy Jerusalem and the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque."
In 2010, he was sentenced to ten months in jail on charges of rioting and assaulting a police officer. In 2003, he was convicted after a plea bargain for contacting a foreign agent and providing services to the Islamic Hamas movement.
