Right-wing activist Yehuda Glick, who is about to be sworn in as a Likud MK in place of outgoing Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who resigned from the party on Friday, plans to stay away from the Temple Mount once he becomes a Knesset member. In any case, once an MK, Glick would have difficulty visiting the Temple Mount, since the chief of Knesset security has forbidden MKs from visiting the site due to the sensitivity of the area. "When I enter the Knesset, I'm a team player, not an individual actor, so I will respect the decisions of the Knesset," Glick said. "I also think that the decision was the right one, because a few Arab MKs visited the Mount and it stirred things up." Glick, 50, was born in the U.S. He is an ordained rabbi and lives in the South Hebron Hills settlement of Otniel. He served in the IDF with the Armored Corps and later with the Intelligence Corps, and holds a bachelor's degree in Bible and Talmud instruction and a master's degree in Jewish history. He has studied in the Telz-Stone, Mekor Haim, Har Etzion, and Otniel yeshivas. On October 29, 2014, Glick was shot by a Palestinian at the Menachem Begin Heritage Center in Jerusalem over his advocacy to allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. He was seriously wounded, but after some months recovered and resumed his normal activity. This past weekend Glick said: "I'm still trying to take in the news. For me, this is a day of prayer. I'll enter the Knesset with great fear and trepidation, in submission and humility, and I pray to the Lord to give me strength. I'll work for unity, not division." Nevertheless, Glick said he would have preferred to make it into the Knesset under different circumstances and expressed his regret over Ya'alon's resignation. "Defense Minister Ya'alon made a significant contribution to Israel's security," Glick said. "The people of Israel owe him a great debt. I'm sorry he's leaving; it's a loss to the people of Israel, and I hope that he will continue to contribute his abilities for the benefit of the people in future. "I also wish great success to incoming Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose success is the success of us all." Glick said that in the Knesset, he would work to "turn Jerusalem and the Temple Mount into a nexus of world peace and promote justice and peace, and always keep Jerusalem in my thoughts. Jerusalem is Zion, and the Temple Mount lies at its center."
Newest MK, a right-wing activist, vows not to visit Temple Mount
Yehuda Glick, who was shot and wounded by a Palestinian in 2014 over his zealous work to allow Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount, supports decision forbidding MKs from visiting site • Calls outgoing Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon's resignation "a loss."
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