Sheikh Ekrama Sabri, the current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called the Hamas leader a ‘martyr’ during a sermon.
A senior Muslim cleric was detained Friday on suspicion of inciting “terrorism” after he mourned slain Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque compound, his lawyer told AFP.
Sheikh Ekrama Sabri, 85, Jerusalem’s former grand mufti and current head of its Supreme Islamic Council, called Haniya a “martyr” in his sermon at a mosque in Israel-annexed East Jerusalem, the lawyer said.
Haniyeh was killed in Tehran on Wednesday morning in an attack blamed on Israel by Iran and Palestinian factions. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh’s death yet.
His lawyer Hamza Qatina said, “(Sabri) is currently being investigated at Al-Maskubiyya (police compound) on suspicion of inciting terrorism because he mourned Ismail Haniya during the Friday sermon and called him a martyr.” His lawyer Hamza Qatina said.
Israeli police said, without naming Sabri, that they had “launched an investigation into an imam who is suspected of making inflammatory statements during a (Friday) sermon and supporting terrorism”.
A man in his twenties was also arrested for making “inflammatory statements” during Friday prayers, the Israeli police statement added.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque compound is the third holiest site in Islam and a Palestinian national symbol.
However, it is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount, the site of the ancient Temple that was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.
Jews are allowed to enter the mosque compound but are prohibited from praying there, a ban that has been violated in recent years by hard-line religious nationalists.
Last month, far-right National Security Minister Atmar Bin-Gvir told a symposium in the Israeli parliament that he had prayed at the mosque compound just last week.
Israel captured East Jerusalem in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War and quickly annexed it in a move not fully recognized by the international community.
The Palestinians claim the eastern sector of the city as the capital of their future state.