Temple Mount activist and former MK Yehuda Glick has been summoned for an interrogation by police regarding events that occurred over eighteen months ago.
On Thursday, Glick received a telephone call from someone who identified himself as a police interrogator, telling him, “You are being summoned to an interrogation next Sunday regarding events that occurred in December, 2019 and February, 2020. You were involved in two events during these months and we must now complete the investigation into these incidents and take a number of steps.”
Glick is one of the most prominent voices outspoken in favor of permitting Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. A week and a half ago, he received a distancing order from the Mount, valid for three months.
During the Sukkot festival several weeks ago, Glick arrived at the entrance to the Temple Mount wishing to enter, but was refused passage by police, who told him that they had received orders from their superiors not to grant him entry. Instead, he was summoned to an interrogation.
“This is a campaign of harassment on the part of Israel Police,” Glick wrote then on Twitter. “Instead of allowing me to enter the Temple Mount, they have summoned me to an interrogation. No explanation, no justification, just – immediately.”
Following Thursday’s telephone call summoning him to yet another interrogation, Glick said, “This is an excellent opportunity to do the police a favor. Now that they are preparing to deal with an appeal lodged against them in the Supreme Court, they are mustering all their weapons in order to defend their reputation – using both legal and illegal means – and to intimidate the petitioner.”
Yehuda Puah, the head of the Betsalmo organization which is petitioning the Supreme Court alongside Glick, responded: “The commanding officer of the local police branch, Nati Gur, is continuing with his Mafioso-like behavior and attempting to threaten anyone who submits petitions against him to the Supreme Court. I call on the Jerusalem police chief to cancel this summons to an interrogation and to reprimand officer Gur. If he fails to do so, he will be the one held responsible for this reckless behavior.”