Knesset members are expressing outrage over a targeted assassination attempt by an Islamic Jihad terrorist against Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick Wednesday night.
The terrorist shot and nearly killed Glick, who was rushed to Shaare Tzedek Medical Center in critical condition, following a conference at the Menachem Begin Center in Jerusalem attended by a number of Knesset members. The attacker subsequently died in a shootout with Israeli Yamam counter terror police in the Abu Tor neighborhood of Jerusalem.
Bayit Yehudi party chairman and Economic Minister Naftali Bennett expressed the shock and fury of most: “Something has happened in Israel,” he said. “The assassination in the heart of Jerusalem of a public activist is a red line that was crossed. I call on the prime minister to restore the sovereignty of Israel to its capital city.”
MK Miri Regev, a participant at the conference that had just been held at the Begin Center, told Israel’s Channel 2 TV News that the event had been focused on Jews coming to the Temple Mount.
“The moment the center of Jerusalem comes under fire, this is an escalation and the government is required to make a change in the perception about Jerusalem,” Regev declared. “This terror in Jerusalem is like terrorism anywhere else in Israel. I don’t know if [Glick] had received personal threats or not – but if so, this is an omission by the police.”
Housing Minister Uri Ariel, meanwhile, prayed for Glick’s recovery and warned that the attack was aimed symbolically at all of Israel.
“The bullets fired at [Glick} were aimed at all Jews who want to exercise their right as Jews; it is moral for Jews to go up to pray at their most holy place,” Ariel pointed out. “I demand that the prime minister immediately permit all Jews to freely go up to the Temple Mount, and to use an iron fist against those who are responsible for this act.”
Likud MK Moshe Feiglin, who also attended the conference at the Begin Center, said that he was not surprised. Feiglin told Channel 2, “I was speaking with Yehuda at the time he was fired at. He was shot at least two times. It’s no surprise, really, because of the ongoing incitement,” Feiglin said bluntly. “The Muslim organizations have been actively harassing him – they marked him as the point man on the Temple Mount issue – and therefore he was attacked. This was expected.”