Several concerned citizens have filed a complaint with the police against Sheikh Raad Salah, head of the radical northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel.
Salah, one of the most vocal leaders of the Arab unrest in Jerusalem and elsewhere following the excavations at the Rambam (Mughrabi) Gate in the Old City, has called outright for another intifada of Arabs against Israel.
A week ago, outgoing Police Chief Moshe Karadi ordered an investigation into Salah's remarks and behavior, on suspicion of having incited to violence and sedition with strong but general criticism against Israel. However, since then, Salah has been more direct, calling directly for another intifada.
Shifra Hoffman, Director of Victims of Arab Terror, together with Baruch Ben-Yosef of the Movement to Establish the Temple and others, filed a complaint against Sheikh Salah for having "called for a new intifada against Israeli citizens over the works taking place near the Temple Mount."
In the previous uprising, the complainants note, "thousands of citizens were killed and wounded by the barbaric violence perpetrated against us by our enemies. There is therefore no doubt that when Sheikh Salah and his friends called for a new intifada, they meant that these same violent actions should happen, including suicide bombings, shootings, stabbings, kidnappings, etc."
The complainants also point out that Salah has thousands of supporters and admirers "who can carry out his instructions, such that these are not mere words, but operative orders.
Public Security Minister Avi Dichter has also asked Attorney General Menahem Mazuz to investigate Salah's calls.
Salah has already been charged with assaulting a policeman during a recent protest against the Jerusalem works, and has been distanced from the Old City for the next two months. "The Zionist establishment is carrying out terrorist acts in Al Aksa," he told protestors.
Meanwhile, the Israel Antiquities Authority has denied Muslim claims that Israeli archaeologists had found a Muslim prayer room at the Mughrabi Gate dig. A spokesman told The Jerusalem Post that a room had been found three years ago, "but we didn't have permission to dig at the site. Now that we have permission, we are going to try and identify what this room is."
Among Salah's remarks to a fired-up crowd of thousands in Nazareth were, “Know that the Israeli establishment, which wants to conquer Al-Aqsa, has already started to destroy part of the mosque... A few days ago they started to destroy important and holy elements to the Muslim world... You [Israel] are playing with fire, and whoever plays with fire will get burned in the end. Your construction will damage Al-Aqsa, and whoever damages al-Aqsa – we’ll destroy his house.” The protestors waved signs declaring, “Israel has started a world war.”
Salah served time in prison in 2003-4 after being convicted of belonging to a terrorist group, passing information to an enemy, contact with a foreign element (an Iranian intelligence operative stationed in Lebanon), conspiracy to commit a crime, money laundering, and other security and corporate crimes.