Yehuda Glick
Yehuda GlickMiriam Alster/Flash90

Incoming Likud MK Yehuda Glick is regularly referred to as an "extremist" or "hardliner" by international media outlets, due to his peaceful campaign to advocate for Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount.

While many of his supporters - and the man himself - regularly dismiss those monikers, in a recent radio interview Glick did admit he is "extremist" about one thing: human rights. 

"I'm very radical in my beliefs," Glick told Army Radio. "I am extreme in my faith in human rights, I am extreme in my belief that we should respect every human being, I'm an extreme in that I think every Israeli has to be as tolerant and listen, I'm an extremist in thinking that we should be against violence." 

While Glick is seen as a "right-wing" extremist by many for championing Jewish prayer rights on the Temple Mount - Judaism's holiest site - he noted that many from the Right are simultaneously appalled that he also believes Muslims should continue to have prayer rights as well.

"Banning Muslims from the Temple Mount - I think every liberal person in this world would think that is wrong," he said. 

Defending Ya'alon

Glick also expressed sorrow over Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon (Likud) stepping a down, despite the fact that this is what allowed Glick - who was #33 on the Likud list - to enter the Knesset. 

"I think that Ya'alon was a beacon of light in both the field of security and in the area of ​​ethics," he said. "We shouldn't have had to give him up so easily and I'm very sad he's leaving."

Glick also defended his condemnation of the actions of IDF Sergeant Elor Azaria, who faces trial for controversially shooting dead a terrorist who was already neutralized. 

"An IDF soldier must obey orders, and if he did not obey his command he should be held accountable for it," Glick explained.

"He does not need to be made into a national hero," he insisted, while adding, "bu tthere's no need to humiliate him into the ground." 

Activist, survivor

Glick has long fought for Jewish rights on the Temple Mount, the holiest site in Judaism, where the Jordanian Waqf has been left with de facto control and bans Jewish prayer in a violation of Israel's laws guaranteeing freedom of religion.

His activism led him to be the target of an assassination attempt by an Islamic Jihad terrorist in October 2014, which he miraculously survived after being shot four times at point blank range.

In an indication of the positions Glick is likely to press in the Knesset, back in January he called on Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to take a stronger stand against Arab terrorism after a woman was murdered at her doorstep in his town of Otniel.

Somewhat ironically, however, by entering the Knesset Glick will forfeit his own right to visit the Temple Mount. Netanyahu recently banned all serving MKs and government ministers from ascending the holy site, in a bid to "calm tensions."