Yehuda Glick, the Temple Mount activist who was shot four times at point-blank range by an Arab terrorist in Jerusalem last October and miraculously survived, told Arutz Sheva about his planned celebration next Sunday to take place one year later at the site of the shooting.
Glick is Chairman of the Temple Mount Heritage Fund, which is struggling to gain Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount. He was the subject of an assassination attempt in front of the Menahem Begin Heritage Center, just southwest of Jerusalem's Old City.
Next Sunday October 18 at 5 p.m., he will throw an event to "thank G-d" for his miraculous survival. Registration to a special movie screening at the event and more details can be found here.
Glick was shot by the terrorist Mu'taz Hijazi outside the Begin Center where he had spoken at an event about the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism. The terrorist was later killed in a shoot-out with police, while Glick was left unconscious and fighting for his life. After several surgeries, during which parts of his lungs and intestines were removed, Glick pulled through his critical wounds.
"That night I was in a critical situation, but that night the gentleman who tried to murder me, he was killed and I survived, and here I am one year later," Glick told Arutz Sheva.
According to the activist, his near murder "pushed" the struggle for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount "ten times more."
"God picked me up, hugged me, and said Yehuda your mission is not over, you must continue," he said.
Glick noted that the Temple Mount, "a place which is supposed to be a world center for peace in the name of G-d, became a world center for incitement and hate," noting on the rampant Arab rioting at the site under the de facto rule of the Jordanian Waqf, which has banned Jewish prayer despite Israeli law stipulating freedom of worship.
Now people better understand the importance of Jewish prayer on the Mount, says Glick.
As for those who blame Jewish activism such as his for the recent wave of terror that has been incited by the Palestinian Authority (PA) using the Mount as a key rallying point, he said, "for many years there was anti-Semitism and people were always trying to find Jewish activity to blame for what was going on."
In no place in the world is "fighting for freedom" considered a justification for violence, he noted, calling the demand for prayer rights a basic freedom.
"They promote terror, we are trying to bring peace," he concluded, contrasting his actions with those of the Muslim elements on the Mount.
Hijazi, the terrorist who tried to murder Glick, had previously served 11 years in prison for terrorism, but nevertheless was employed at the Terasa restaurant in the Begin Center. The PA praised the terrorist as a "hero defending freedom," and after initially pledging to demolish his home, the state of Israel later folded and made do with just demolishing his room.