Israeli police arrest Jerusalem’s top Muslim cleric, ban him from al-Aqsa

The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Sheikh Muhammad Hussein (C)

Jack Khoury reports in Haaretz on 11 July 2026:

Israeli police detained the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, after he finished delivering a sermon and leading Friday prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He was released shortly after, after being given a one-week ban from the mosque.

The grand mufti is the highest-ranking Islamic legal and religious authority that oversees the Temple Mount/Al-Aqsa Mosque.

According to sources in the Waqf, Sheikh Hussein was detained immediately after Friday prayers and was later released, subject to a seven-day ban from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque. So far, the Israeli police have not responded to the arrest or the ban.

The Palestinian Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs reported on Sunday that Israeli forces carried out 26 incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in June.

According to the status quo established after the Six-Day War, the Temple Mount is a site of worship for Muslims and a place of visitation for non-Muslims.

Based on this principle, publicly agreed to by every consecutive Israeli government, police are supposed to prohibit Jews from bringing in tefillin (phylacteries), prayer books, or prayer pages and have banned prayers, singing and prostration (which is permitted on the Temple Mount according to Jewish law), among other activities. Over the years, hundreds of Jews who arrived at the Temple Mount have been detained or arrested for violating these rules.

In January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly backed changes to longstanding arrangements at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa Mosque/Temple Mount compound, insisting that new policies allowing Jewish prayer at the site do not violate the fragile decades-old status quo.

This article is reproduced in its entirety