Jewish firebrand visits Al-Aqsa for first time since 2014

By Kaamil Ahmed

JERUSALEM (AA) – Yehuda Glick, a controversial Jewish Israeli activist, visited Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque compound for the first time since he was banned from the flashpoint site in 2014, Israeli media reported Tuesday.

Israel's Channel 2 news reported that Glick had been surrounded by Israeli police during the visit, about which police had not been informed in advance.

Sheikh Azzam al-Khatib, Palestinian director-general of Al-Aqsa Affairs, told Anadolu Agency that Glick -- along with four companions -- had forced his way into the compound under Israeli police protection but had been forced to leave shortly afterward by Muslim worshippers.

Glick leads Israel’s extremist "Temple Mount" movement, which calls for building a Jewish temple where the iconic Al-Aqsa Mosque now stands.

According to existing arrangements, only Muslim worship is allowed within the mosque compound.

Jews, for their part, pray at the Western Wall near an area on which they claim a Jewish temple once stood.

Glick was banned from the Al-Aqsa compound in 2014 after being accused of having assaulted a Muslim woman at the site.

Last week, however, an Israeli court dropped the charges against him.

In October of 2014, Glick was shot and seriously injured by a gunman who, he alleged, had told him he was an "enemy of "Al-Aqsa".