Sheikh Ikrima Sabri Who Was 'Abducted' From Jerusalem (X image@fairuz_azmi83)

Israel arrested, or rather “abducted” Al-Aqsa Mosque Sheikh Ikrima Sabri. He was detained from his home in Jerusalem, after he eulogized the late Hamas pollical bureau chief, Ismail Haniyeh, during his Khutba for Friday prayers. He was released from the Israeli captive earlier today.

The Imam’s lawyer Khaled Zabarka told Anadolu that the Israeli authorities released Sheikh Ekrima and ordered his deportation from the mosque until August 8, with a possibility to extend his deportation for six months. One of Sabri’s relatives said that Israeli police stormed into his house in occupied East Jerusalem and arrested him, reported Anadolu.

Reportedly, following his speech during the Friday prayer, Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called for an “immediate investigation” into the matter. Israel’s Interior Minister Moshe Arbel voiced his intention to revoke Sabri’s residency permit.

“The people of Jerusalem and the environs of Jerusalem from the pulpit of the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque mourn the martyr Ismail Haniyeh”, said Sheikh Ikrima during his Friday sermon, as quoted by media.

Times of Israel reported that footage on social media showed audience members chanting “Allah is great” and “with blood we shall redeem the martyr” during the imam’s sermon. The report said police said it had begun investigating an “imam suspected of making inciting statements and supporting terrorism during a sermon given today at the midday prayer on the Temple Mount.”

As per the report, Sheikh Ikrima was detained after securing the state prosecutor’s approval for the probe, officers took Sabri from his East Jerusalem home for questioning at the Jerusalem District Central Investigations Unit.

The Imam lives in East Jerusalem, most of whose Palestinian residents hold Israeli residency permits that are relatively easy for the Israeli interior minister to revoke.

Sheikh Ikrima Sabri is a fierce critic of the decades-long Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. This is not the first time the 85-year-old preacher was detained. He had previously been detained by Israeli forces and was barred from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem for months. He was also banned from travelling abroad and prevented from communicating with Palestinian personalities inside Israel.

He had previously held the position of mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories from 1994 to 2006, and was appointed by late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. He war removed by the current President of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas. He was reportedly removed for his growing popularity and open expression of racially charged, one-sided political views