Right-wing activist shot during annual Temple Mount event in Jerusalem

Rabbi Yehuda Glick seriously wounded after being shot in upper body at close range during ‘Israel Returns to the Temple Mount’ conference at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center.

Noam (Dabul) Dvir

Glick, 50, was shot in his upper body by a motorcyclist during an annual ‘Israel Returns to the Temple Mount’ event organized by the Temple Mount and Eretz Yisrael Faithful Movement. The event was attended by MKs and notable right-wing activists, among them Deputy Minister Eli Ben Dahan, MK Moshe Feiglin, MK Miri Regev and Hagai Ben Artzi – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s brother-in-law.

Scene of shooting

MK Feiglin gave a witness account to the police, and later told reporters: “The would-be killer turned to (Glick), confirmed in Hebrew with a thick Arab accent that this was indeed Yehuda and shot several bullets at him from point blank.”

Feiglin told Ynet earlier:”What happened is horrible but very expected. Glick was constantly threatened. The fact that he was not assigned protection at all times is a failure. I say this as someone who is the target of constant incitement. Weakness and incompetence were behind this attack. This was a relaxed conference, the room was half full. This was not an impassioned event. An Arab came there with the urge to kill.”

MK Moshe Feiglin at the scene of the shooting (Photo: Noam ‘Dabul’ Dvir)

Shai Malka, Feiglin’s spokesman, recounted the moments just before the attack: “I stood next to him. The conference was over and he went outside to load his car. Next to it stood a Palestinian motorcyclist wearing black. I saw his gun and I yelled to the woman with me ‘run, escape.’ We started running. The Palestinian said to him: ‘Sorry, I have to do this,’ and shot him.”

MK Regev spoke at the conference on Wednesday and left the event a few minutes prior to the shooting. “It was a quiet conference about the rights of Jews to come to the Temple Mount and pray there,” she said. “An attack in the center of Jerusalem close to the Menachim Begin Heritage Center is an escalation of attacks on personal security. Whoever does not fight for security there, will in return get terror in all of Israel.”

Deputy Minister Dahan left the conference about an hour before the shooting: “I spoke about the security situation in Jerusalem, and said the lack of control and order marks the loss of our sovereignty in the capitol. If the situation is deteriorates we will lose power.”

Economy Minister Naftali Bennett said of the assassination attempt: “Something has happened in Israel. An assassination attempt in the heart of Jerusalem on a public figure is a crossing of a red line drawn in blood. Security is not brought with words but with deeds, and I call on the prime minister to restore the sovereignty of Israel and its capitol and immediately.”

Magen David Adom paramedics arrived at the scene to treat the man and later evacuated him to the Shaare Zedek Medical Center in critical condition.

A Magen David Adom paramedic, Aharon Adler, that treated Glick, said, “When we arrived at the scene was saw a 50-year-old man lying on the ground, he was conscious and suffered several gunshot wounds to his upper body. We quickly took him to the hospital in serious condition. At the hospital he was sedated, attached to a respirator and taken to surgery.”

Palestinians were shooting fireworks in Jerusalem’s Old City in celebration of the assassination attempt on Glick’s life.