Yehuda Glick

Glick was born in New York on November 20, 1965, and immigrated to Israel in 1974 with his parents and six siblings.[1] He moved to Israel at age eight and later lived in Otniel in the Hebron Hills.[8] He served in the Israel Defense Forces from 1986 to 1989, initially in the Armored Corps and later in the Intelligence Corps, and completed a combat medics course.[1]

His education included a B.Ed. in Bible Studies from Jerusalem College and an M.A. in Jewish History from Touro College; he also obtained a tourism ministry tour-guide license.[1] A 2014 profile described his degrees as a bachelor's in teaching Bible and Oral Torah and a master's in Jewish history.[8] He later worked as a guide and lecturer on the Bible, Jerusalem, the Temple Mount, and the Temple.[1]

Glick began his career as a teacher and worked from 1996 in Israel's Ministry of Immigration and Absorption. His roles included spokesperson for Minister Yuli Yoel Edelstein and director of the ministry's Public Diplomacy Department, Jewish Identity Unit, and Ashkelon and South Israel region.[1] He had previously managed an immigrant-absorption program in the 1990s.[8] He resigned in protest against the Gaza Disengagement Plan; his Knesset biography dates the resignation to 2005, while a Ynet profile says he left in 2006.[1][8]

From 2005 to 2009, Glick served as director general of the Temple Institute in Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter.[1] He founded the Temple Mount Heritage Foundation and, from 2008, headed it as well as HaLiba, identified as the Initiative for Jewish Freedom on the Temple Mount.[1] The organizations encouraged Jewish visits to the site, and Glick also worked as a tour guide there.[1][8] In 2014, he headed the foundation and was involved in the Core Project, which he described as a Jewish-Christian initiative envisioning the Mount as “a house of prayer for all peoples.”[8]

Glick's central cause was Jewish access to and prayer on the Temple Mount. The Jewish Review of Books describes him as an American-born Orthodox rabbi and Likud member best known for this advocacy.[2] Restrictions on his access also affected his livelihood as a guide.[8] He framed his campaign in the language of civil rights.[3] In a 2016 interview, Glick said that his personal ability to visit mattered less than whether the people of Israel could go to the site; he also said he would follow the prime minister's then-current instruction barring Knesset members from visiting.[9]

His proposals included changing the policy that prohibited non-Islamic prayer at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif. Glick argued that such a change would “provide equal religious freedom for all who find the site holy.”[6] He and Jewish organizations also called for a time-sharing plan that would set aside hours for Jewish worship, a proposal Muslim authorities opposed; Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated his support for the status quo arrangement.[6] At a Knesset Interior Committee meeting, Glick proposed separate visiting hours during which Muslims would not be able to visit, citing the separation customary at the Cave of the Patriarchs as an example.[10]

In October 2013, Glick held a hunger strike that ended after 12 days when permission for him to ascend the Mount was reinstated.[11] In 2014, he began a 53-day hunger strike after police barred him from the site, reportedly on the grounds that he was dangerous and might provoke disturbances between Muslim and Jewish visitors. He petitioned the High Court of Justice and said police offered to lift the ban if he relinquished compensation for lost guiding work; he said he accepted because his priority was encouraging Jewish visits.[8] These accounts describe separate episodes of protest against restrictions on his access.

Glick's activism took place amid an arrangement described in religious-freedom reporting as permitting non-Muslim visits to the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount while prohibiting non-Islamic prayer. The same reporting noted accounts of Jewish prayer at the site and disagreement over how the arrangement was being applied.[12] Glick continued publicly to call for Jews to be allowed to pray there.[12] His campaign thus addressed both access to the compound and the distinct question of worship, while proposals to change existing arrangements drew opposition from Muslim authorities and support from Jewish activists.[6][12]

A Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research panel placed Glick among Temple Mount activists associated with a rights-based discourse that a speaker said had found an audience across a broad range of communities. The panel also situated such activism within the growing influence of Temple Mount activists in Israel's political establishment.[13] A separate institute study identifies Glick as chair of the Temple Mount Heritage Fund and says he coined the phrase “the heart of the nation” for the Mount; the surrounding passage also quotes MK Yariv Levine describing the site as the nation's heart.[10]

On November 7, 2016, Glick held the annual Temple Mount conference in the Knesset for the first time and announced the creation of a Temple Mount lobby.[14] The development came amid calls by groups including the Temple Mount Faithful and Temple Institute for increased Jewish access and prayer, although the report did not detail Glick's remarks at the conference.[14] In a 2016 interview before entering the Knesset, he said he hoped to help transform the site into “a world center for peace instead of incitement and terrorism.” He also identified settlers' rights and infrastructure and immigrant-absorption issues in Judea and Samaria as areas in which he hoped to work.[9]

Glick's public advocacy also included symbolic acts associated with Jewish worship. During Rosh Hashanah celebrations in September 2022, Jewish activists including Glick blew shofars and raised Israeli flags on graves at the Bab al-Rahma Muslim cemetery, adjacent to the compound and outside Jerusalem's Old City walls.[12][15] The activity took place in the cemetery, not on the Temple Mount itself.[15] Police were concerned that blowing a shofar there could provoke disorder, while Israeli courts blocked police from restricting activists from the area.[12]

On September 4, 2023, video described in a State Department report showed police arresting Glick after he broadcast the sound of a shofar from his mobile phone at the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount. The report did not give the outcome of the arrest.[16] A shofar is a ram's horn traditionally sounded during Rosh Hashanah celebrations.[17] The episode reflected the continuing dispute over the boundaries of permitted Jewish expression at the site, rather than establishing any change in the reported prayer arrangement.[12][16]

Glick was placed 33rd on the Likud roster ahead of the 2015 election as a representative of Judea and Samaria. He entered the Knesset in May 2016 after Moshe Ya'alon left parliament.[4] The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research likewise records his election to the 33rd position on the Likud list and his start in the Knesset in May 2016.[10] He served as a Likud lawmaker from 2016 to 2019.[18]

Before his swearing-in, an assessment by the Knesset officer and police resulted in a decision to assign him a bodyguard because of threats attributed to terrorist organizations following the 2014 shooting.[19] During his parliamentary career, he continued to advance changes to the Temple Mount prayer policy and proposals for time-sharing, while the government maintained its stated support for the status quo.[6] His broader stated interests included issues affecting settlers and infrastructure and immigrant absorption in Judea and Samaria.[9]

After leaving the Knesset, Glick remained publicly associated with Jerusalem and interfaith initiatives. A 2021 profile described him as working for the Jerusalem Peace Foundation, which it characterized as seeking to connect non-Jewish communities with Jerusalem.[20] A 2026 interview identified him as president of the Shalom Jerusalem Foundation, which it said promotes interfaith engagement and advocates greater access to the Temple Mount as a place of prayer for all faiths.[18] The available accounts use different names for these organizations and do not establish whether they are the same institution.[20][18] The 2021 profile also reported that Glick ran for president of Israel and had met with about 50 members of the Knesset from different factions.[20]

On October 29, 2014, Glick was shot outside Jerusalem's Menachem Begin Heritage Center after speaking at a conference concerning Jewish presence and rights on the Temple Mount.[21][5] The conference was titled “Israel Returns to the Temple Mount.” The attacker fled on a motorcycle, and Glick was taken to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in very serious condition, sedated, placed on a ventilator, and taken to surgery.[21]

Reports differ on the number of shots. The World Jewish Congress reported that Glick was shot three times, while Ynet reported four.[22][23] In a later interview, Glick also recalled being shot four times.[18] The reports agree that he was gravely wounded outside the center after the conference.

Glick showed signs of improvement on November 5 after surgeries and sedation, began breathing and speaking on his own on November 11, and was released from hospital on November 24.[5] A 2021 profile reported that he spent four weeks in intensive care at Shaare Zedek and later recovered.[20] In a 2026 interview, Glick recalled undergoing ten surgeries and returning to the Temple Mount after months of recovery, saying, “We couldn't allow terror to gain a victory.”[18]

Israeli forces killed the suspected shooter, Muataz Hijazi, during an operation in Jerusalem's Abu Tor neighborhood the morning after the attack. Police believed Hijazi had acted alone, while Fatah and Islamic Jihad each claimed responsibility; the Shin Bet said Hijazi had previously been arrested for terrorist activity and served a prison sentence.[5] Those are reported claims about the suspect and responsibility, not independently established findings in that account. My Jewish Learning calls him a suspected Islamic Jihad member, while the World Jewish Congress referred to unconfirmed reports identifying him as an Islamic Jihad activist.[3][22]

The shooting's immediate aftermath included a 24-hour closure of the Temple Mount/Al-Haram al-Sharif to visitation and prayer. Police closed the site on October 30 and denied Muslims entry for 24 hours; Arab East Jerusalem leaders declared a general strike, and Jordan recalled its ambassador while threatening to sever diplomatic ties.[10]

Glick's activism also led to repeated exclusions from the Temple Mount. Police barred him from visiting between 2011 and 2013 after a television broadcast showed him reciting the prayer “Aleinu Leshabeach” there.[7] In October 2013, his hunger strike ended when permission to ascend was restored.[11] A later account described a further ban in 2014, which Glick challenged through a petition and hunger strike.[8]

In March 2015, the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court ruled that the state should compensate Glick after police had excluded him from the site.[7] The court awarded more than NIS 500,000 in compensation and NIS 150,000 in legal costs.[7] Judge Aviv Malka described the exclusion as arbitrary and found that Glick's conduct did not justify either the punishment or its duration; she also criticized the absence of clear written police procedures for the site.[7]

The ruling's practical reach was disputed. Glick's lawyer said the judgment effectively permitted Jewish prayer at the Temple Mount, while commentator Arnon Segal questioned whether prayer would in practice be freely allowed given the government's commitment to the status quo.[24] The finding concerning the police ban and the broader policy question of prayer were therefore presented as related but not identical issues.[6][24]

Glick has continued to visit the Temple Mount and speak publicly about Jewish prayer there. A 2021 profile said he visited at least weekly, sometimes bringing groups or enabling people abroad to participate virtually.[20] In a 2026 interview, he said that when he began ascending in the 1980s there were 100 Jewish visitors in a year and that the figure had since reached 70,000. This was his reported comparison, not an independently verified count in that account.[18]

In the same interview, Glick said he prefers to call the site “Zion” and described his aspiration as making it “a house of prayer for all nations.”[18] This language echoed his earlier involvement in the Core Project, which he described as a Jewish-Christian initiative with a vision of prayer for all peoples.[8] His statements combine advocacy for Jewish worship with a public description of the site as a potential setting for prayer by people of different faiths.[8][18]

A reported encounter during a Temple Mount visit in 2014 illustrated another aspect of his public presentation. Glick sought conversation with people who had opposed his presence; the interaction shifted from verbal and physical hostility to a brief shared prayer. The article presented the episode through accounts from Glick's brother and visitor Tom Nissani, who reported Glick saying, “We pray to the same God.”[23]

Glick received the Moskowitz “Lion of Zion” award in April 2015.[1] His career has included public advocacy, parliamentary service, organizational leadership, guiding and lecturing, and work described by later profiles as connecting non-Jewish communities with Jerusalem.[1][20]

Glick became one of the most visible advocates for Jewish access to and prayer on the Temple Mount. The Jerusalem Institute for Policy Research calls him one of the most prominent activists on the issue, while the World Jewish Congress describes him as a prominent activist for Jewish rights at the site.[10][22] His organizations encouraged Jewish visits, and his appearances in the Knesset and at public conferences helped bring the issue into political discussion.[1][14]

His career also connected advocacy with legal action. A court awarded compensation for the police ban on his visits, while subsequent debates questioned whether that judgment changed the practical rules governing prayer.[7][24] His 2014 shooting and subsequent return to public activity became central elements of his public profile; accounts document his hospitalization and rehabilitation, and Glick later described his return as a refusal to let terrorism prevail.[18][5]

Glick's stated vision has included equal religious freedom for those who regard the site as holy and, in later formulations, a place of prayer for all nations.[6][18] His work has also drawn attention to the tension between those aspirations and the reported status quo, which permits non-Muslim visits but prohibits non-Islamic prayer, as well as disagreement over how that arrangement is applied.[12]

Glick's campaign concerns access and prayer at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, a politically and religiously contested site. Reports describe the status quo as allowing non-Muslim visits while prohibiting non-Islamic prayer and record disagreement over its application; Glick and other activists have called for Jewish prayer rights, while Muslim authorities opposed proposed time-sharing and Netanyahu reiterated support for the existing arrangement.[6][12] The 2015 court ruling criticized the particular police ban on Glick, but accounts differed over whether it would lead to freely permitted Jewish prayer more broadly.[7][24]

Other reported incidents have prompted public disagreement over security and religious expression. In 2022, police concerns about possible disorder over shofar blowing at the adjacent Bab al-Rahma cemetery were followed by court decisions blocking restrictions on activists in the area.[12] In 2023, Glick was arrested after broadcasting shofar sounds at the site, but the cited report did not state the outcome.[16] These episodes are distinct from the 2015 ruling and do not, on their own, establish a change to the prayer policy described in the reports.[12][16]

Accounts of the 2014 shooting also differ on details, including the number of shots and the suspected shooter's organizational affiliation. Police reportedly believed Hijazi acted alone, while Fatah and Islamic Jihad each claimed responsibility; other sources described him as a suspected or reported Islamic Jihad member.[3][5] The cited accounts do not resolve those competing claims.