Pictured Above: Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, in Jerusalem, March 26, 2015. Credit: Miriam Alster/Flash90

(JNS.org) The Israel Police Tuesday arrested the leader of the Islamic Movement’s outlawed northern branch, Raed Salah, on charges of inciting terrorism during the peak of July’s Temple Mount crisis.

A large group of police officers arrived in the northern Israeli city of Umm al-Fahm early Tuesday and arrested Salah following an extensive joint investigation by the Israel Police and the Shin Bet security agency.

Salah was detained for statements he made during a speech in Umm al-Fahm at the funerals of the three Arab terrorists who killed two Israeli police officers July 14 near the Temple Mount.

In his speech, Salah purportedly lauded the terrorists and encouraged young Muslims to follow their example. Salah denied the allegations.

“I told the investigators I teach at mosques, and I told them [my remarks] were Islamic insights we got from the Sunni Quran,” he said during his hearing.

“You are not prosecuting me, you are prosecuting the Quran….This is political persecution. This is an attempt to get the media to talk about my arrest,” he added.

Salah’s arrest comes seven months after he was released from jail after serving a nine-month sentence on similar charges. He was also sentenced to eight months in prison after the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court found him guilty of inciting violence in March 2014.

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