The renowned activist hopes to turn the Temple Mount into “a world center for peace,” promote settlers’ rights and bring “light and love” to the world.

Most freshman MKs, certainly in a party as large as Likud, have to work very hard on standing out amid the names. Yehuda Glick, who is scheduled to be sworn in as a new MK on Wednesday, does not have that problem, and not just because of his bright red hair and beard.

Glick, 50, a longtime activist for equal rights for Jews on the Temple Mount, where only Muslims are allowed to worship openly, became a household name after an attempt on his life in 2014 by Mutaz Hijazi, an Arab man from Jerusalem, who called Glick “an enemy of al-Aksa.”Glick was shot in the chest four times in 2014.

The soon-to-be MK was born in the US, and his family moved to Israel when he was eight years old and currently lives in Otniel. He is the father of eight, two of whom he fostered after their parents were killed in a terrorist attack.

Before devoting his time to Temple Mount activism, Glick was spokesman for the Immigration and Absorption Ministry when now-Knesset speaker Yuli Edelstein held the portfolio.

Glick will replace Moshe Ya’alon in the Knesset. Ya’alon, the former defense minister, recently resigned from the Knesset in a political storm.

Quoting Psalms, Glick said Sunday he will “put Jerusalem above my joy” and do what he can to change the situation on the Temple Mount, though he won’t be able to visit the holy site anymore because the prime minister has banned MKs from doing so. Continue reading