Jerusalem (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Mu'taz Hijazi, a Palestinian man and suspected author of the attack against Rabbi Yehuda Glick, was killed this morning. Glick is the leader of the Temple Mount movement and right wing Eretz Yisrael Faithful. The movement claims the right for Jews to pray on the Temple Mount, the site of the al-Aqsa Mosque mosque and the golden Dome of the Rock, the third holiest site for Muslims.
Israeli police spokesman, Micky Rosenfeld, stated that "anti-terrorist police units surrounded a house in the Abu Tor neighbourhood to arrest a suspect in the attempted assassination of Yehuda Glick, immediately upon arrival they were shot at. They returned fire and shot and killed the suspect".
Hijazi was arrested in 2002 for alleged involvement
in acts of terrorism and sentenced to ten years in prison. He was released in
2012. The police are also investigating his possible involvement in the shooting
and wounding of a soldier on August 4 this year.
Rabbi Glick was wounded yesterday in the chest and abdomen when he was shot at
point blank range by a man on a motorcycle in front of the Menachem Begin Heritage
Center in Jerusalem, where the movement was gathering for the annual "Return
of Israel to the Temple Mount," to promote the access of Jews to the site.
Police and intelligence agencies have often banned Glick - who is reportedly in
a stable condition -from going to the Temple Mount, and he has fought legal battles
against such bans.
Currently, the entire area is closed "until further notice" to both Jews
and Muslims.