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Attempted assassination of Temple Mount campaigner in tense Jerusalem
A well-known campaigner for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount was shot yesterday in Jerusalem. The assassination attempt comes with low-level violence and tension simmering in the city for the past several months.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick is the spokesman for the Joint Committee of Temple Organisations, a forum which campaigns for Jews to be allowed greater access to the Temple Mount, a site holy to both Muslims and Jews. Glick was shot three times by an assailant on a motorbike who approached him outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Centre, where Glick had been participating in a conference titled “Israel returns to the Temple Mount,” alongside Likud MKs Moshe Feiglin and Miri Regev and Jewish Home MK Eliyahu Ben-Dahan.
The attacker escaped and Glick was evacuated to Sha’are Tzedek Hospital, where he is reported to be in stable but serious condition. During the night, Israeli counter-terrorism officers surrounded a house in the neighbourhood of Abu Tor, adjacent to where Glick was shot. They came under fire after attempting to make an arrest and returned fire, killing the suspect. The Shin Bet security agency said that the gunman was a 32-year-old who had previously spent time in Israeli prison. Unconfirmed reports named the man as Mu’taz Hijazi, an Islamic Jihad activist, who according to reports worked at the Begin Centre.
The attack took place against a background of several months of violence in Jerusalem with regular clashes taking place in Arab neighbourhoods between local youths and Israeli forces. Last week, two people including a three-month-old baby were killed when a local Palestinian driver rammed his car into a crowd of commuters. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently ordered an additional Border Police unit to be deployed in Jerusalem.
In light of last night’s attempted assassination, Israeli authorities have taken the rare decision to close the Temple Mount to both Jewish and Muslim worshippers until further notice, due to fears of unrest. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Netanyahu commented, “We are all praying for Yehudah’s well-being.”