Israeli Police Arrest Leader Of Banned Islamic Group

Israeli authorities overnight arrested Islamic cleric Raed Salah following a raid on his home in the northern Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm. Salah has for years spearheaded the “Al-Aqsa is in danger” campaign, which claims that Israel is attempting to change the status quo governing relations at the Jerusalem holy site that Jews called the Temple Mount (known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif), upon which the mosque is located in Jerusalem. Salah is the leader of The Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement—banned by the Israeli government in November 2015—and was previously convicted of incitement to violence and jailed for nine months. Israeli officials blame Salah in part for last month’s crisis over the Temple Mount, which included mass demonstrations by Muslims and clashes between protesters and police in response to the introduction by Israel of metal detectors—since removed—at the entrances of al-Aqsa in the wake of a terror attack that killed two Israeli police officers.