Temple Mount activist and former Likud MK Yehuda Glick was released early Wednesday morning, after police searched his home and interrogated him on suspicion Glick took documents from a criminal investigation against him.
Glick said Tuesday night that police raided his home at 11:30 p.m., conducting a thorough search of the premises.
"The Israel Police arrived at my home just now at 11:30 p.m. They came with a search warrant and are turning the house upside down," Glick wrote on Twitter, before being taken into police custody.
The search was conducted hours after Glick had been arrested on the Temple Mount, and later released.
At 4:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, Glick was again released, after police failed to find the documents they suspect Glick of taking from his criminal file.
Attorney Adi Keidar, who works for the Honenu organization and is representing Glick, said his client fully cooperated with police.
“From the very beginning, Mr. Glick cooperated fully and told investigators that he had no idea what they were talking about, and that the only documents he had were his release form which had been signed after this terrible arrest; the false arrest that took place [Tuesday] morning.”
“Despite his claims, the investigators continued on for a while with their search, turning the house upside-down, after which they took him to the police station and detained him for questioning, during which he told them what he had told them at the beginning.”
“This morning [Glick] promised them, after they understood that his version was correct, that he would check with his lawyer whom he had given his documents to, if the documents in question are in his possession.”
“Once again, Israel Police behaved impulsively and problematically, and all this bearing in mind that the previous arrest [Tuesday morning] had been a false arrest that was an embarrassment to the police.”
Police released a statement Wednesday morning regarding Glick’s second arrest.
“Overnight, police conducted a search operation with a warrant and detained for questioning the suspect who yesterday morning violated the rules for [visitors] on the Temple Mount.”
Police added that the search Tuesday night was conducted on suspicion of “obstruction of justice and theft.”
“Yesterday, at the end of the suspect’s interrogation, there was a suspicion that the suspect stole material before he left the interrogation room. Based on the suspicions, police requested a search warrant for the suspect’s home, and was granted one by the court. Later that night, police officers were sent to his home and waited until he arrived during the night, at which point they conducted a search of the premises and detained the suspect for questioning, at the end of which he was released on bail.”
Glick was arrested Tuesday morning while visiting the Temple Mount with two US congressmen. Police claim he violated the rules of the visit, "created provocations" and resisted arrest.
The former Likud MK was released Tuesday afternoon after lengthy police questioning.
Glick claimed police told him that he was arrested on the Temple Mount Tuesday for walking “too slowly”.
"I did a really terrible crime, lucky there is no death penalty in Israel," Glick said sarcastically, noting that "according to the police, which is also what they told me during the interrogation, I went too slowly for their liking."
Police, on the other hand, claimed Glick was violating the rules put in place for visitors to the Temple Mount.
"In the morning a visitor arrived to the Temple Mount accompanied by two members of the U.S. Congress and their families, who toured the Temple Mount and the visit ended without any unusual incidents.”
“After a short time, the visitor returned to the Checkpoint at the entrance to the Temple Mount (Mugrabi Gate) and entered the Mount area without coordination with police officers. He began to walk around the Temple Mount contrary to the customary rules of the place, which he knew from his previous visits. He refused to obey police instructions and accompany them while continuing to provoke them, forcing them to detain him, and after continuing to provoke them, they had to inform him he was under arrest. At this point, too, he continued to do something that forced the police to handcuff him. He was released from shackles while still on the Mount and escorted by police for questioning.”