Raed Salah
Raed SalahYonatan Sindel/Flash 90

Sheikh Raed Salah, the leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, on Thursday criticized the arrangement which saw Israel dismantling the electronic security detectors at the entrance to the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

In an interview with the Hamas-affiliated Palestine newspaper, Salah said that Israel "is trying to lead us to a dangerous game regarding its steps at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, by making it look as though our sole concern is the removal of the inspection and the cameras.”

He further claimed that Israel was striving to focus on the issue of the security arrangements at the Temple Mount in order to achieve Arab acceptance of its presence in the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Any deal or agreement with a Palestinian, Arab or Islamic element regarding the "occupation of Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa" is null and void, continued Salah.

"Accepting the presence of the occupation in Al-Quds and Al-Aqsa is a betrayal of Al-Aqsa and a betrayal of Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad) and Allah does not love traitors...We will remain in Al-Aqsa until we meet Allah," he declared.

Earlier this week, Salah stressed that Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Arabs will not compromise in any way on the issue of security on the Temple Mount.

"The [electronic inspection that was placed at the entrance to the Temple Mount] is only one of the tools used by the occupation, and therefore we demand that these gates that were placed in the Al-Aqsa Mosque be removed as a preliminary step toward the end of the occupation,” he said.

Saleh served a nine-month jail sentence after being convicted of encouraging violent attacks and inciting racism in a 2007 sermon.

The radical cleric has in the past labeled Israeli leaders “terrorists” and “enemies of Allah” in a speech to Muslims in Be’er Sheva, and was also jailed for five months in 2010 for spitting at an Israeli police officer.

The Israeli government outlawed the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, which Salah heads, in November of 2015.