Police detained for questioning one of the most prominent foreign journalists stationed in Israel on Tuesday following an anonymous complaint that proved to be baseless.

The Washington Post's Jerusalem bureau chief, William Booth, was working on a report with two other Post reporters, Sufian Taha and Ruth Eglash, on the recent terror attacks near Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City.

Mr Booth and Mr Taha were accused of "incitement" after a passer-by alleged in a complaint to the officers that the journalists had offered money to Palestinian men to stage an altercation with the police.

They were taken to a nearby police station for questioning and released after about half an hour.

Mr Booth himself said later "it was just a misunderstanding", but the incident created waves on social media almost from the minute it happened.

The two reporters were accused of incitement, which proved to be baseless

Jerusalem police explained that they had simply "detained a number of suspects to clarify the facts - in a sensitive and discreet manner at the adjacent police facility". But the Foreign Press Association (FPA) attacked the police for using "heavy-handed tactics" over an "absurd accusation", and even the Foreign Ministry joined the critics, calling the detainment a "regrettable incident" and demanding clarifications from the police.

Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was on a visit to Berlin, weighed in at a press conference, saying "Israel does not arrest journalists" and "as I can personally testify, the media in Israel is lively and free, very dynamic and free to say what it wants".

The police were forced to release another statement apologising to the Washington Post journalists but saying that their questioning had nevertheless been necessary.

The incident in Jerusalem has come at a time of tension between the Israeli government and the foreign press corps stationed in Israel.

The government has complained of headlines that highlight the deaths of Palestinian attackers at the hands of Israel's security forces, while obscuring the fact that they were killed when attempting to murder Israelis.

The FPA has repeatedly complained about police harassment of media crews. Relations between the police and the local media are also at a low, and new commissioner Roni Alsheikh, is planning an overhaul of the service's media operations.