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| Rabbi Yehuda Glick just before being shot |
According to police, the shooting took place at approximately 10:30 p.m. outside the memorial center, located near the Old City, by a suspect riding a motor bike who fled the scene.
Glick, who has a long history of advocating for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount, spoke Wednesday evening at the Begin Center alongside MKs Eliyahu Ben-Dahan, Moshe Feiglin and Miri Regev at an event titled “Israel Returns to the Temple Mount.”
MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) who was with Glick, said that a motorcyclist drove up to Glick as he put posters from the event in his car and asked if he was Yehuda Glick. When Glick affirmed his identity, the motorcyclist shot him and fled.“Shots were fired and the victim was rushed to an area hospital in serious condition,” said Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. “Special patrol units are searching the area for the suspect and we are investigating the background of the incident.”
“It was an assassination attempt,” a Jerusalem city official said. “This is very serious.”
The victim was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Dr. Yonatan Halevy, director-general of Shaare Zedek said that Glick was undergoing surgery for wounds in the chest and the stomach.
"His situation at this moment is stable but his life is still at risk," Halevy said. He added that Glick has lost a lot of blood and had been given many transfusions.
Glick’s father Shimon who is in the hospital awaiting results of the surgery told the media, “Everyone who reads Facebook and newspapers knows his life had been threatened. “Because he is a red head and tall, he stands out,” Shimon said.
“I am hoping that he will recover and continue his work,” he said.
Following the shooting attack, Police Chief Yohanan Danino ordered the police readiness level raised to the second highest level in every district nationwide
Bayit Yehudi Minister Uri Ariel said following the shooting, "I am praying for the full recovery of Yehuda Glick. The bullets fired at him tonight were directed at all the Jews that want to exercise their Jewish and moral right to visit the most holy place to the Jewish people and to pray at the Temple Mount."
"I call on the prime minister to immediately allow every Jew to freely go to the Temple Mount, and to act with an iron fist against the criminals responsible for this deed," he charged.
