A Jewish man in his 40's was arrested Tuesday for the second time in a week when he reached the Old City. The previous week he had been arrested when he went up to Temple Mount and according to police "covered his face and prayed".
On Friday the court ordered him not to go to Temple Mount until Sunday and on Tuesday he entered the Old City intending to go up to Temple Mount.
However, when he entered the Old City the police officer recognized him and told him that he could not go up to Temple Mount until he had attended a hearing with a police officer. This despite the fact that his restraining order was no longer in effect. The officer told him to go with him to the hearing, but he refused, claiming that he had no legal obligation to go.
A few minutes later police claimed that the man had tried to enter Temple Mount through a gate where access is forbidden to Jews and thus was "disturbing the peace". He claimed in response that he had wanted to pray outside the mountain.
According to police reports, when they insisted that he leave the place and escorted him to Lion's gate, he was arrested for saying that they were "cooperating with the Arabs."
After interrogation the police officer decided to leave him in detention for the night and the next day he was remanded with police demanding to remove him from the Old City for 60 days. The also demanded a guarantee and 1,000 shekels bail.
During the proceedings the police representative claimed that when he accused them of cooperating with Arabs it caused a crowd of Muslims to gather and this threatened the police's safety. He was accused of disturbing police, insulting them and disturbing the peace.
Attorney Avichai Hajbi who represented the defendant via the Honenu organization said that his remand was illegal and there was no reason to arrest him in the first place since his statements did not represent a criminal offense. The police's acquaintance with the suspect as a Temple Mount activist did not justify preventing his entry.
Judge Moriah Tcherka ruled that there was a reasonable suspicion of a public disturbance since from the investigation it appeared that the accused had tried to enter Temple Mount and had thus "disturbed the status quo in this sensitive and holy place."
Yet the judge rejected most of the the police's demands and ruled that he would be prevented from entering Temple Mount and its periphery for 21 days but would not have to sign a guarantee or post bail, since it had not been proven that he had violated the restraining order. The matter of the legitimacy of his arrest was irrelevant, she said.
It should be noted that a few months ago the same person won 32,000 NIS in a civil suit against the police for illegal arrests in similar circumstances in the Temple Mount periphery."