By AFP
JERUSALEM, Aug 7 — Israeli authorities have banned Jerusalem’s top Muslim cleric from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for six months over a recent sermon, his attorney told AFP on Wednesday.
Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, the grand mufti of Jerusalem, will be prevented from entering the holy site in the Israeli-annexed Old City until January 2026, according to lawyer Khaldoun Najem.
Najem said Israeli police “did not interrogate” or held a hearing for the mufti prior to their decision.
Contacted by AFP, police did not immediately comment.
Hussein’s lawyer said that the ban was due to a Friday sermon the mufti gave at Al-Aqsa – Islam’s third-holiest site and a Palestinian national symbol – in late July, “which contained nothing inappropriate”.
Palestinian news agency Wafa said the sermon had focused on deteriorating conditions in Gaza and growing starvation in the territory, where Israel’s nearly two-year war against Hamas has led to a dire humanitarian crisis.
Israel had already issued an eight-day ban against Hussein following that sermon, Wafa said.
The Al-Aqsa compound is Judaism’s holiest site, known to Jews as the Temple Mount.
Israel occupied and annexed east Jerusalem and including the Old City in 1967. Much of the international community does not recognise Israel’s annexation of the area.
Earlier this month, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir publicly conducted a Jewish prayer on the grounds of the Al-Aqsa compound – a highly contentious move that violates a long-held understanding at the site.
The compound has long served as a flashpoint in tensions between Israelis and Palestinians and frequently been the spark for larger unrest.
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