Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the radical Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement which has been outlawed by Israel, is calling on the Muslim public to “give up their souls” for the Al-Aqsa Mosque as Jews ascend the Temple Mount for the upcoming Jewish holidays.
“We will sacrifice our souls and our blood for the sake of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” Salah wrote on Facebook, adding, “The Israeli occupation repeatedly threatened to break en masse into the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the coming days during their holidays. And what are we doing about it?”
“May Allah have mercy on those of us who are staying at the Al-Aqsa Mosque day and night during the next few days, or are holding on to it, or come to it, or praying all the morning and night prayers in it,” he continued.
“Shame be on those of us who are watching (what is happening), or are silent about it, or are frozen with fright. Thousands of blessings to those who cling and hold on (to the mosque) and to those who repeatedly say: We will sacrifice our souls and our blood for the sake of the Al-Aqsa Mosque,” wrote Salah.
Salah is serving an 11 month prison sentence for incitement charges which were filed in 2007, but that has not stopped him from continuing to incite against Jews.
Last month, he accused Israel of being "racist" and claimed it had adopted racist policies against Israeli Arabs.
"Anything is possible nowadays when Israeli racism can make the Islamic Movement illegal, to carrying out executions with the pretext of combating terror," he told Hamas's Palestine newspaper, and called upon Israeli Arabs to join forces with Palestinians to create "a strong nationalistic uprising in which we stand up for our land, our houses, and our holy-site, under the oversight of the 'Arab Higher Committee'."
The Islamic Movement and has been repeatedly involved in several incitement-laced activities, including violent "Nakba Day" protests, calls for an "intifada", and rioting on the Temple Mount.
Salah himself has 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.
In November of 2015, the Cabinet approved a decision to outlaw the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement.