Police chief vows to restore quiet in Jerusalem

Security forces are prepared to employ any means necessary in order to quell the ongoing unrest across Jerusalem, Police Chief Yohanan Danino said Thursday, adding that thousands of extra police officers are set to remain in the capital until quiet is restored.

Speaking during a visit to the City of David National Park and Silwan, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City, Danino urged Israeli leaders and politicians to refrain from calls and statements with the potential to heighten tensions in the city, according to Israel Radio.

The police chief’s comments came one day after Rabbi Yehudah Glick, a prominent activist for Jewish access to the Temple Mount, was shot and critically wounded in an apparent assassination attempt. Police on Thursday said they killed Glick’s suspected shooter in a raid in the Arab-Jewish neighborhood of Abu Tor, which lies on the seam line between east and west Jerusalem.

Danino said police were unaware of any specific threats against Glick in the days prior to the shooting. However, Glick’s father, Shimon Glick, told Israeli media Thursday that his son was regularly threatened for his activism.

“They promised to kill him several times,” he said, claiming the police did nothing to protect him. He did not identify the sources of the threats.

MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud) said Glick had filed five police complaints after receiving threats to his life, all of which were ignored.

Glick was in serious but stable condition at Shaare Zedek Medical Center Thursday after being shot by an assailant on a motorcycle upon leaving a conference in central Jerusalem Wednesday night.

“The attack was expected,” Feiglin told the Ynet news site, adding that any Jew who visits Temple Mount is a target for terrorism.

Jerusalem District Police Commander Moshe Edri denied the claim, saying no official complaint filed by Glick could be found, the daily Haaretz reported.

The latest escalation in violence across the capital was set off by the June kidnapping and killing of yeshiva students Naftali Fraenkel, Gil-ad Sha’ar and Eyal Yifrach by Hamas-linked Palestinian terrorists in the West Bank. In July, three alleged Jewish terrorists kidnapped and killed 16-year-old Muhammad Abu Khdeir in response to the killings. The incidents, among other factors, sparked a 50-day war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Last week, a Palestinian man drove a car into a crowded train platform, killing two, including an infant. In the days following, Palestinians have clashed continuously with Israeli police in Arab neighborhoods of the capital. Israel responded to the rise in violence by increasing its police presence, deploying an additional 1,000 officers to the city.

The violence continued Thursday. Rioting Palestinian youths threw stones at police forces in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Jabel Mukaber, according to a police spokesman, and officers responded with riot dispersal measures.

In Jerusalem’s Old City, police dispersed rioters who hurled stones at them.

Also in the Old City, a female tourist was lightly injured when she was hit by a firework launched toward a police force nearby. A Palestinian youth was arrested, Israel Radio reported.

Earlier in the day, a public bus was stoned by Palestinians as it drove through East Jerusalem. A 17-year-old suspect was arrested.

Netanyahu said Thursday that he ordered a further reinforcement of security forces in Jerusalem, and that the effort to restore quiet would take time.

“No one needs to take the law into their own hands,” he cautioned.

Police were on high alert in the city, bracing for violence and revenge attacks and closing down the Temple Mount for the day, for the first time in over a decade. The site is expected to reopen for Friday prayers.

Glick remained in serious but stable condition at Shaare Tzedek Medical Center, according to hospital officials.

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.