Former MK detained for questioning over alleged incitement in 2022 Ramallah speech

Police briefly arrested and interrogated former MK Mohammad Barakeh this morning on incitement suspicions for a speech he gave more than three years ago in Ramallah.

Announcing the move, police say they arrested a former elected official for a speech he gave 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 comes several days after police initially summoned Barakeh for questioning in Ariel, following approval to launch an investigation given last week by the State Attorney’s Office.

Barakeh refused to travel to the West Bank settlement, which prompted police to arrive at 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 police’s request to bar him from traveling abroad, but imposed a 30-day ban on him entering the West Bank.

Police do not elaborate on the statements Barakeh made during his speech. According to Hebrew reports, the ex-MK compared the State of Israel to Nazi Germany, called for “popular resistance to the occupation” and “struggle and fighting” against Israel.

The speech in question was delivered at a 2022 rally marking the founding of Fatah, the dominant Palestinian political party in the West Bank.

At the time of the speech, Barakeh was chairman of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel, an umbrella organization representing Israel’s Arab citizens.

The organization this evening decries the former chairman’s arrest as politically motivated, claiming it represents “another dangerous episode in a string of political persecutions” meant to “intimidate the Arab populace, deter them from political participation and legitimate struggle against the policies of occupation, racism and political repression.”