Sheikh Sabri’s defense team said in a statement that the Israeli Magistrates’ Court in Jerusalem has set a date for his trial and will consider the indictment filed against him by the Public Prosecution in July 2024.
The defense statement explained that the indictment includes charges of "incitement to terrorism" based on two condolence speeches delivered by the sheikh in the Shuafat camp in Jerusalem and Jenin in the northern West Bank in 2022, in addition to a third charge related to mourning the former head of the political bureau of the "Hamas" movement, Ismail Haniyeh, during the Friday sermon at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Hamas had announced the assassination of Haniyeh in Tehran while he was attending the inauguration ceremony of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian in July 2024. This was followed in August of the same year by a decision from the Israeli police to prevent Sheikh Sabri from entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque for six months because of his condolences for Haniyeh.
The defense team considered the trial to be part of "arbitrary measures and political, religious and intellectual persecutions" taken by the Israeli authorities against Sheikh Sabri in recent years, including his removal from the Al-Aqsa Mosque, preventing him from traveling and imposing a decision to demolish his house.
The defense noted that this step is a "response to a broad incitement campaign" waged by extreme right-wing parties and organizations against Sheikh Sabri, amid repeated incitement by Israeli officials, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Interior Minister Moshe Arbel, because of his positions and speeches in solidarity with the Gaza Strip.
For its part, the Council of Scholars and Preachers in Jerusalem affirmed that “what is happening is a serious transgression against religious authority,” adding that the trial of Sheikh Sabri represents “a false precedent that contradicts international law.”
In a statement, the organization emphasized that scholars in Palestine stand behind Sheikh Sari, considering the targeting of him an attack on all religious authorities. It noted that the incitement against him has reached the point of "explicit calls for his murder," and warned of the repercussions of international and Islamic inaction regarding this level of threat.