Khaled al-Mughrabi arrested again after sermons calling for extermination of Jews; case to be transferred to prosecutor
Israeli police will recommend leveling criminal charges against a prominent preacher who regularly speaks from the pulpit at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque for inciting violence and racism.
Sheikh Khaled al-Mughrabi was arrested on Wednesday after videos published on Palestinian networks showed him speaking against Jews in recent sermons at the mosque, atop the sensitive Temple Mount site.
The police plan to transfer the case for prosecution in the coming days, according to media reports Sunday.
The arrest came as Israeli officials have said they will crack down on speech they see as inciting others to violence, amid a fresh round of Palestinian attacks on Israelis.
Israeli officials have pointed to Palestinian incitement regarding a Jewish presence on the Temple Mount as one of the driving forces behind the violence.
A video of Mughrabi delivering a sermon saying that Jews will be “wiped out” was flagged by watchdog group Palestinian Media Watch and sent to police, according to Israeli news site Ynet.
“We will go after the Jews everywhere,” Mughrabi is seen proclaiming in one video. “They won’t escape us, they won’t be able to escape us. The Children of Israel will all be wiped out.”
The video has since been removed from YouTube.
Mughrabi’s lawyer, Hamza Kutina, said that the sheikh’s statements come from religious texts and do not promote incitement. “[Mughrabi] does not want to incite, and we want to prevent such situations,” Kutina said to Ynet. “It’s true that he is seen speaking in the video, but he says that it was the Prophet who said these things, and they have a source.”
Mughrabi was questioned by police earlier this year after being videotaped telling worshipers that Jews kidnap non-Jewish children in order to extract their blood. He has claimed Jews control the world’s wealth and use their control of the pharmaceutical industry to spread disease.
A video of some of Mughrabi’s comments earlier this year can be seen below.
As reported by The Times of Israel