Israel closes Al-Aqsa Mosque

Interior Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch today ordered the closure Al-Aqsa Mosque in the wake of an assassination attempt on the extremist Rabbi Yehuda Glick.

Police shut the compound to all worshippers and visitors until further notice, Israeli newspaper Ynet News reported.

The step came after an assassination attempt on the notorious extremist Rabbi Glick took place in the city yesterday evening.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported Aharonovitch saying hundreds of police have been sent into Jerusalem as reinforcements since the morning, in addition to the already bolstered forces that have been operating in the city.

Witnesses said there is a heavy police presence in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Silwan, adjacent to the Old City, and a helicopter circled overhead.

Tensions have risen steadily in the eastern side of Jerusalem since just before the savage Israeli war on Gaza that ended in August, with almost nightly clashes between Israeli occupation forces and Palestinian protesters throwing rocks at them.

A major focus of Palestinian anger in the past few weeks has been Jewish settlers moving into largely Arab neighbourhoods and increasing numbers of desecrations by Orthodox Jews, including some politicians, accompanied by Israeli police to Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Glick is a central extremist in “Temple Mount” movements and a symbol of the struggle for the Jewish desecration of Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli authorities turned right-wing Likud Member of the Knesset Moshe Feiglin, who tried to make his way onto the holy site this morning, back in response to the shooting of Glick.