The Israel Police briefly arrested and interrogated former MK Mohammad Barakeh on Tuesday for suspected incitement during a speech he made more than three years ago in Ramallah.

Announcing the move, the police said that they arrested a former elected official for giving a speech in December 2022, which allegedly expressed “praise for and identification with terrorists and terror groups, alongside calls for struggle against the State of Israel.

The arrest came several days after police initially summoned Barakeh for questioning in the West Bank settlement of Ariel, following approval from the State Attorney’s Office last week to launch an investigation.

Barakeh, the former leader of the Arab-majority Hadash party, refused to travel to the settlement, prompting police to instead turn up on his doorstep in Shfaram with a warrant. They placed him under arrest and brought him to the West Bank for questioning.

After his interrogation, Barakeh was brought to the Petah Tikva Magistrate’s Court, where police sought to bar him from leaving the country until October or entering the West Bank for a 90-day period.

The judge rejected the police’s request to bar him from traveling abroad, but imposed a 30-day ban on him entering the West Bank.

Police did not elaborate on the statements Barakeh made during his speech. According to Hebrew reports, the former lawmaker compared the State of........

© The Times of Israel