Shot Israeli Nationalist Rabbi Defends al-Aqsa Stance

Israeli rabbi Yehuda Glick, who survived a murder attempt after calling for Jewish prayer rights at Jerusalem's flashpoint al-Aqsa mosque compound, defended his stance on his release from hospital Monday.

Glick was shot four times by a masked gunman in Jerusalem on October 29.

A day later police shot and killed his suspected attacker, Muataz Hijazi, a Palestinian from annexed east Jerusalem.

The nationalist rabbi, 48, is loathed by Palestinians who see any Jewish presence on the plateau in the Old City, which houses Islam's third-holiest shrine, as provocation.

"I am a man who acts in the public interest, in respect for the law and who was shot just because of my beliefs, simply because of my faith," said Glick, who has been accused of stoking tensions by organizing visits by Jewish activists to the compound.

The site, which is holy to Jews and Muslims alike, has been the focus of months of unrest in east Jerusalem.

Glick told reporters as he was discharged from hospital that it was "those who kill in the name of religion who desecrate al-Aqsa."