Israel bans Islamist group over Jerusalem mosque clashes

Israel banned the radical wing of the country's main Islamist organisation Tuesday, accusing it of having instigated violence at a sensitive Jerusalem holy site that sparked weeks of Palestinian unrest.

The ban comes as Israel tries on several fronts to stop the knife, gun and car-ramming attacks, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly declaring that he will pursue those he accused of incitement.

Mohammad Barakeh, the head of an Arab Israeli umbrella organisation, accused Netanyahu of taking advantage of anti-Islamist sentiment in the Western world following the Paris attacks to crack down on the group.

The radical branch of the Islamic Movement, based largely in northern Israel, rejects the Oslo peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians and boycotts elections on the grounds that they give legitimacy to the institutions of the Jewish state.

It has been behind a campaign alleging that the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in annexed east Jerusalem is "in danger", stoking fears that Israel plans to change rules governing the site, which Netanyahu has repeatedly denied.

Early Tuesday, security forces raided offices of the movement and 17 associated organisations in Arab communities, police said, seizing cash, documents and computers.

Raed Salah, head of the organisation, and two other officials were summoned to a police station in the northern city of Haifa for questioning.

"All these measures taken by the Israeli establishment are unjust and unacceptable," Salah said in a statement, calling it "blatant injustice".

- General strike -

In announcing the ban, a government statement said that "any person who belongs to this organisation or who provides services to it" would be committing a criminal offence.

It accused the group of incitement "based on the lie that 'The Al-Aqsa Mosque is in danger'," adding that the group shared "an extremist ideology" with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Netanyahu said it "incites violence against innocent people".

"It has close ties with the Hamas terrorist organisation and it seeks to subvert the state in order to establish an Islamic caliphate in its place."

Barakeh said Israel is "exploiting the situation in the region and the world to escalate its repressive and authoritarian attacks against the Arab people in the country".

He also noted that "even the Shin Bet are opposed to the ban," confirming reports in the Israeli media of the dispute between the influential internal security agency, which feared the move could increase tensions, and police, which supported the move.

Barakeh's organisation, the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, called for a general strike over the ban for Thursday.

Arab Israelis -- Palestinians and their descendants who remained after Israel was created in 1948 -- make up some 17.5 percent of the population.