The American-born rabbi and Temple Mount activist who was shot by an Arab jihadist on Oct. 29 continues to recover in a Jerusalem hospital, but his supporters are accusing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of failing to support the rabbi's cause.
Rabbi Yehuda Glick was shot four times as he was leaving the Menachem Begin Heritage Center near the Old City 11 days ago. The city of Jerusalem has been on edge since the shooting with daily reports of clashes between police and rock-throwing Arabs, and two terrorist attacks in which Arabs drove cars into crowds of Jewish pedestrians, killing three.
After giving a speech on the Temple Mount's importance to Jewish heritage, Glick was approached in the parking lot by a 32-year-old member of Islamic Jihad. The man asked him to confirm his identity. When he said he was Yehuda Glick, the man shot him at close range and sped away on a motorcycle. The assailant died in a gun battle with police the next morning.
Glick has emerged from a coma following several surgeries and is interacting with family and friends by writing on a white board, according to a report in Arutz Sheva/Israel National News. He is still unable to talk.
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Glick continues to make good progress while being treated at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem and has told fellow activists to "stay strong," the report said.
The rabbi has advocated for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount, considered Judaism's most holy place, for more than 20 years as chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation. He was featured prominently in the new documentary film, "End Times Eyewitness: Israel, Islam and the Unfolding Signs of Messiah's Return," produced by WND Films and directed by Christian filmmaker Joel Richardson. In that film, Glick says the rebuilt temple will be "a house of prayer for all nations," according to the prophet Isaiah's teaching.
Glick's friend and associate, journalist Arnon Segal, who is also a prominent activist on the Temple Mount rights issue, visited Glick Monday and said Glick urged him to "be strong."
Glick thanked everyone for the outpouring of support he has received in the wake of the shooting, according to Segal.
"The operation now commands me the easiest mission: to breathe," Glick reportedly said.
After the visit, Segal told hospital staff, "This is the Yehuda we know, just connected to a ventilator. He acts and communicates with a sense of humor, even in danger."
The staff also said that while Glick still cannot speak, his situation is "encouraging" at this stage of his recovery.
"Just today he began to write on the whiteboard. It was evident that he was struggling, but this is tremendous progress," the hospital staff told Arutz Sheva. "Yesterday, the situation was totally different."
Prior to the assassination attempt, Glick had been repeatedly targeted in an online hate campaign, which has since threatened other Temple Mount activists including members of Jerusalem's Temple Institute, its founder Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and its international director, Rabbi Chaim Richman.
WND reported on Nov. 2 that 14 other Temple Mount activists besides Glick were the targets of threats by radical Muslims posted on the Internet.
They posted a graphic showing the pictures of 15 activists, with a caption in Hebrew that reads: "We, the Muslims, will not allow anyone to touch Al Aqsa. Your actions are liable to drag the entire region into war. The Al Aqsa mosque is for Muslims only, and we will not allow you to control it."
Netanyahu criticized for preserving 'status quo'
Netanyahu last Friday told the European Union's foreign minister that the "status quo" will be upheld at the holy sites, with Jews allowed to pray at the Western Wall and Muslims on the Temple Mount. That angered the Jewish Temple Mount activists who criticized Netanyahu for not upholding Israeli sovereignty over the Temple Mount, which was won in the 1967 war but never fully claimed by the Israeli government. Israel allows Jordan to set the rules on the Temple Mount while Israel provides security.
The current status is that Jews and Christians can pray at the Western Wall and may go up to the Temple Mount in limited numbers on certain days, but non-Muslims may not publicly pray while on the mount.
The Temple Mount Institute posted the following message Sunday on its Facebook page regarding Netanyahu's statement about preserving the status quo:
"In light of the violence and terror that has spread through Jerusalem in recent weeks, and which is being directed and encouraged by both Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and perpetrated in the name of al Aqsa (local Muslim shorthand for the Temple Mount), the prime minister of Israel, rather than standing up for freedom of Jewish worship on the Temple Mount, has spoken out against it, vowing to preserve the 'status quo' which discriminates against non-Muslims on the Temple Mount. Prime Minister Netanyahu has asked members of Knesset and government ministers to stop visiting the Temple Mount saying that their appearances on the Temple Mount only serve to heat things up.
Foreign Minister Avigdor Leiberman likewise called on government Ministers to desist from ascending the Temple Mount, as did Internal Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has stated repeatedly in the past few days that the Temple Mount will remain open to Jews but the status quo under which Jews are not allowed to pray on the Temple Mount will be maintained.
Prime Minister Netanyahu has also stated that he intends to outlaw the groups of Muslim men and women paid by Hamas to harass Jewish worshipers on the Temple Mount.
This morning Jews who ascended the Temple Mount were limited to groups of no more than five individuals per group."
That message was followed by another status update on Monday which confirmed the new policies by Israeli police:
"The police are currently allowing only five Jews at a time onto the Temple Mount. Only when one group of five exits the Mount is a second group allowed up. Needless to say, in light of the very limited hours Jews are allowed onto the Temple Mount (the 'sacred' status quo) this means many Jews waiting in line to go up will not get the chance to do so.
At the same time, over the past few days the police have also been enforcing greater security vis a vis Muslim entry to the Temple Mount, implementing a relatively serious security check and not allowing onto the Mount the Hamas-paid men and women who have been verbally and physically harassing Jews on the Mount.
Jews who did succeed in ascending the Temple Mount report that it was, indeed, very quiet on the Mount and they were not approached by or harassed by Muslims."