Israeli Right-Wing Activist Shot and Wounded; Police Kill Suspect

Israeli police said they shot and killed Mu’taz Hijazi, a former Palestinian prisoner, who was suspected of shooting Rabbi Yehuda Glick, a prominent Israeli-American right-wing activist at point blank range. Police said a man on a motorcycle approached Glick after an annual event organized by a right-wing group, and shot him three times, seriously wounded him. Glick has long been pushing for more Jews to visit a site that Jews call the Temple Mount, and Palestinians the Haram al-Sharif. Jews believe it is the site of the First and Second Temples. It is above the Western Wall, the Jewish site that is part of a retaining wall around the Temple. The Muslim Waqf controls the site, and while Jews are allowed to visit during certain hours, they are not allowed to pray there. The attack comes amid growing Arab-Jewish tensions in Jerusalem, and police sent hundreds of reinforcements to the city fearing reprisal attacks by extremist Jews. Police also closed the holy site which  prompted Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to call it “a declaration of war.”