Israeli media is reporting that Israeli Muslim Brotherhood leader Raed Salah has warned U.S. President Obama not to visit the Al-Aqsa mosque during his upcoming visit to Israel. According to a Ynetnews report:
03.04.13, 15:12 / Two weeks before Barack Obama’s expected arrival in Israel, Raed Salah, the leader of the Islamic Movement’s northern branch, warned of the possible implications of the president’s visit to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem. Dozens of the movement’s supporters demonstrated outside the US Embassy in Tel Aviv and called on Obama to avoid entering the Temple Mount with an Israeli escort. The protesters carried Islamic Movement flags as well as photos of administrative detainees who are on hunger strike. The protesters said that reconciliation with Netanyahu cannot come at the expense of Palestinians and called out ‘We shall sacrifice our life and blood for Al-Aqsa.’ Addressing the crowd, Salah said that if Obama visits Al-Aqsa with even one ‘representatives from the Israeli occupation’ it will prove he supports ‘the occupation’ and wants to Commenting on the hunger striking Palestinian prisoners, he said: ‘We shall continue to fight for you because you deserve to get out of the Israeli prisons and return to your families.’ Islamic Movement spokesman Attorney Zahi Nujidat said, ‘We warn of the implications of President Obama’s visit. There is fear that Obama will enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque and we don’t want anyone who supports the Israeli occupation going there. We warn Obama not to cause damage to Palestinian interests or our holy sites.'”
A post from September 2012 reported on comments by Salah in which he predicted that Israel actions toward the Al-Aqsa Mosque will “speed up the demise of the Zionist entity.” The Al-Aqsa Mosque is often the subject of various Global Muslim Brotherhood conspiracies theories involving alleged Israeli plots and plans to destroy the mosque.
In 2010, the Jerusalem Post profiled Mr. Salah who leads the Northern branch of the Islamic Movement, essentially the Israeli Muslim Brotherhood.
A post from April 2012 discussed the decision by a British court to uphold the appeal by Salah against a deportation order. A post from last October 2011 discussed the deportation order itself. An earlier post reported on the ongoing support offer to Mr. Salah by the U.K. Muslim Brotherhood. Other posts have discussed the arrest of Mr. Salah in the U.K. and the support offered to him by the Global Muslim Brotherhood. Knowledgable sources report that Salah is currently residing in Israel. A post from last October reported that Salah had given an address in which he said that Islam will deliver the West from “Global Zionism.” A BBC producer and MEMRI have also both covered the anti-Semitic and extremist views of Mr. Salah.