Photo: Yonatan Sindel/Flash90

Yehuda Glick, executive director of Haliba organization for Jewish freedom on the Temple Mount, was shot three times in the chest and is in critical condition. 

By United with Israel Staff

At approximately 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday evening in Jerusalem, a suspect riding on a motor bike fired at least three shots into the chest of Rabbi Yehuda Glick.

Photo: Yossi Zamir/Flash90

Rabbi Yehuda Glick (Photo: Yossi Zamir/Flash90)

The perpetrator of the attack was not yet apprehended. Police are working to determine for certain that the attack was politically motivated.

This news comes shortly after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had called to stop Jews from entering the Temple Mount “in any way.”

Glick was shot just outside the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, which was hosting an event promoting an increased Jewish presence on the Temple Mount.

“It was an assassination attempt,” a Jerusalem city official said. “This is very serious.”

Member of Knesset Moshe Feiglin, who is also a Temple Mount activist, told reporters that a motorcyclist had turned to Glick and, in a thick Arabic accent, said, “Yehuda, I am angry at you,” before shooting him point blank.

“This very afternoon HALIBA steering committee members Yehuda Glick, Aharon Pulver, Douglas Altabef, Yaacov Hayman and myself  held a special meeting to strategize further action, given the rapid escalation of violence by Muslims on the Temple Mount,” Linda Olmert, Haliba’s deputy director, said in a statement. “Just hours before being shot, Yehuda remarked that even with incitement against Jews on the Mount so extreme, no one would do anything until blood was shed. Jewish blood.”

Rabbi Glick was been taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. He is undergoing emergency surgery.