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Tensions High at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

After Israeli police kill Palestinian suspected of shooting of right-wing rabbi

by
Stephanie Butnick
October 31, 2014
Tourists look at the Temple Mount compound from the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem's Old City on October 31, 2014. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)
Tourists look at the Temple Mount compound from the Jewish quarter in Jerusalem's Old City on October 31, 2014. (Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Clashes erupted in Jerusalem yesterday after Israeli police shot and killed a 32-year-old Palestinian man suspected in Wednesday’s shooting of Yehuda Glick, a prominent rabbi and activist, which is believed to have been an assassination attempt. Glick, 49, a well-known proponent of increasing Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount (Jews are currently not allowed to enter the site), remains in “serious but stable condition.”

Israeli officials closed off access to the Temple Mount yesterday, angering Palestinian leaders and sparking demonstrations in East Jerusalem. The site was reopened for Muslim prayers last night, but only for men over 50.

According to JTA, Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attempt on Glick’s life, which they said was retaliation for Israeli action in Jerusalem amid the escalating tension between Jews and Palestinians. The suspect, who was killed Thursday, reportedly worked in the kitchen at Jerusalem’s Menachem Begin Heritage Center, which hosted the conference Glick had spoken at just before he was shot.

Stephanie Butnick is chief strategy officer of Tablet Magazine, co-founder of Tablet Studios, and a host of the Unorthodox podcast.