Former Likud Knesset Member Rabbi Yehuda Glick was attacked in eastern Jerusalem Wednesday after visiting the mourning tent family of Iyad al-Halak, according to Israel’s Channel 12 and Channel 13 television news teams.
Iyad al-Halak is the 32-year-old special needs Arab man mistakenly killed by Israeli Border Guard Police on Tuesday. Israeli Defense Minister and Alternative Prime Minister Benny Gantz apologized for the tragic error.
Glick was evacuated to Jerusalem’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition. The former MK told Israeli media that he wanted to express his thanks “to Magen David Adom, and to the police and firefighter rescue crews” who he said came immediately to help evacuate him and rendered first aid on the scene prior to rushing him to the hospital.
One suspect was arrested by police on Friday evening. The court ordered the police to release the suspect to house arrest.
As director of the Temple Mount Heritage Center, he has long been active in advocating for Jewish prayer at the site, the holiest place in the Jewish faith. His actions often anger radical Islamists, who are incensed at the idea of any Jewish presence in the Temple Mount compound, inasmuch as it is considered the third holiest site in Islam. There are two major mosques in the Temple Mount compound, which are overseen by the Jordanian Islamic Waqf Council.
Jerusalem’s Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern has also paid a visit to the family at their mourning tent this week, bringing with him Jerusalem’s Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum. The two offered the family their condolences, together with a message of “peace and consolation.”
Al-Halak’s father thanked the two for their visit and said, “We all want to live together in peace.”
Temple Sherpa Yehudah Glick Escaped Assassination, Now Crowdsourcing Guide to Temple Mount
Rabbi Glick miraculously survived a serious assassination attempt in October 2014 outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem after he delivered a speech at the hall.
A man on a motorcycle asked him if he was Yehuda Glick and when he confirmed his identity, the man said, “I’m very sorry but you’re an enemy of Al Aqsa, I must do this” and shot him four times at point-blank range.
Police tracked down the terrorist to the mixed Arab-Jewish neighborhood of Abu Tor, but their attempts to arrest the gunman were met with gunfire, which led to a shootout and ultimately the death of Mutaz Hijazi, Glick’s would-be assassin.