Itamar Ben-Gvir says al-Aqsa imam detained
Israel’s national security minister says Imam Ekrima Sabri has been detained after accusations that he delivered a sermon eulogising slain Hamas leader Haniyeh.
“My policy towards instigators is clear – zero tolerance,” Ben-Gvir said in a social media post.
Hamas decries detention of Al-Aqsa Mosque preacher by Israel
The Palestinian group has condemned the detention of Imam Ekrima Sabri, who was arrested earlier for eulogising Haniyeh during a sermon.
“The detention of Imam Ekrima and interrogating him is a direct aggression against our spiritual figures to sideline influential religious and national leaders defending Jerusalem’s Arabness and Al-Aqsa Mosque,” the group said in a statement.
Hamas called for the immediate release of Sabri and urged Arab and Muslim nations to condemn his arrest.
More details on the detention of Al-Aqsa preacher
Imam Ekrima Sabri was detained on suspicion of inciting “terrorism” after he mourned slain Hamas leader Haniyeh at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque, his lawyer said.
Earlier, we reported that Sabri was arrested after the sermon.
Sabri, 85, the former grand mufti of Jerusalem and current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called Haniyeh a “martyr” at the mosque in Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem, his lawyer Hamza Qatina said.
“[Sabri] is currently in Al-Maskobiya [police compound] under investigation on suspicion of inciting terrorism, because he mourned Ismail Haniyeh during the Friday sermon and described him as a martyr,” the lawyer said.
Israeli police, without naming Sabri, said they had “opened an investigation into an imam suspected of making inciting statements and supporting terrorism during a sermon given [on Friday]”.
Arresting him is incitement...
