The Ra'am Party issued a statement of condemnation in Arabic on Saturday after Israeli security forces arrested Dr. Muhammad Salma Hassan, a member of the Shura Council of the Islamic Movement from the village of Mashhad in the Galilee.
According to Ra'am, Hassan was violently arrested by security forces in Bab al-Huta, near the entrance to Al-Aqsa Mosque. The party alleged that Hassan was arrested after telling a policewoman to stop smoking.
"This is a cowardly attack that proves that the occupation police at Al-Aqsa Mosque are complicit in the attacks."
Ra'am statement
: "This is a cowardly attack that proves that the occupation police at Al-Aqsa Mosque are complicit in the attacks," The statement reads. "Muslim worshipers are exposed to groups of extremists who attack Al-Aqsa and violate its sanctity."
At the end of the announcement, Ra'am stated that its MKs called on Public Security Minister Omer Bar Lev to prosecute the police and impose "the most severe punishments" on them.
A police source said that the suspects attacked the border fighters at the scene and therefore were arrested.
The chief of staff of the "Red Line Protest," Joel Shilo, said on Sunday night: "For the Prime Minister and the Islamic Movement, the police of the State of Israel are the 'occupation police'. We have already experienced terrorist attacks on the Temple Mount: this is first-rate incitement. The Public Security Minister is required to condemn the incitement immediately and demand the removal of Ra'am from the coalition."
רע"ם הוציאה הודעת גינוי בערבית ופנתה לשר הבט"פ בדרישה לפתוח בחקירה נגד השוטרים המעורבים.ברע"ם ציינו שמעצר האלים התבצע לאחר שהשיח' העיר לשוטרת לא לעשן במקום לקדושתו https://t.co/krjo0X7gXj
— sami abdulhamid سامي عبد الحميد (@samiaah10) June 5, 2022
West Bank legislation
The incident took place a day before a bill to apply emergency regulations in the West Bank is to be put to a vote in the Knesset plenum. It remains unclear whether the coalition has a majority to pass it.
Meretz announced that it would support the legislation, but it is still unclear how the Ra'am faction will vote. A coalition source told Maariv that "we will only know in the 90th minute, on Monday, close to the vote." Yamina MK Idit Silman, who resigned from the coalition, also did not reveal how she intends to vote.
The bill, which has been approved by the government every five years since 1967, would extend Israel's legal jurisdiction over Israeli settlers living in the West Bank.