Suspected shooter of US-born Israel activist killed by police, authorities say

The suspect in the shooting of U.S.-born activist Rabbi Yehuda Glick was reported killed by police in an East Jerusalem neighborhood early Thursday. 
The Times of Israel reported that police arrived at the suspect's house in the Abu Tor neighborhood and were attempting to arrest the suspect when they came under fire. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld posted on Twitter that the suspect was killed in the ensuing shootout. 
The paper reported that the Shin Bet security service confirmed the death of the suspect, who they described as a 32-year-old Palestinian who had spent time in an Israeli prison. His identity was not confirmed, though some reports cited by the Times of Israel name him as Mu’taz Hijazi, an activist for the Islamic Jihad terror group. 
Glick remained hospitalized in serious condition after Wednesday night's shooting, which took place outside a memorial center in the Israeli capital by the motorcycle-riding gunman, who immediately fled the scene. The Times of Israel reported that Glick was shot three times, and quoted eyewitnesses who said the gunman briefly spoke to him, saying "You've made me very angry" in Hebrew with a heavy Arabic accent. 
Glick is chairman for the Joint Committee of Temple Organizations and has a long history of advocating for Jewish prayer rights at the Temple Mount, a hilltop compound in Jerusalem's Old City that has been a flashpoint for violence in the current tension over Jerusalem. Glick had been speaking on the topic at a conference promoting Jewish access to the holy site prior to the shooting.
"The writing was on the wall, the ceiling and the windows. Every Jew who goes up to the Temple Mount is a target for violence," Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin told the Associated Press. Feiglin pledged to visit the sacred site on Thursday morning, a move seen as a provocation by Palestinians.
In recent months, clashes have erupted at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site between Palestinian stone throwers and Israeli police, over what Palestinians see as Jewish encroachment on the site, the holiest in Judaism and the third holiest in Islam. Israel maintains that it allows free prayer to all, but Palestinians claim Israel is unilaterally widening access to accommodate larger numbers of Jewish worshippers.
Amid the violence, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has recently called for Jews to be banned from the site, urging Palestinians to guard the compound from visiting Jews, who he referred to as a "herd of cattle."
The violence erupted over the summer after three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped and killed by militants in the West Bank. Jewish extremists retaliated by kidnapping and burning to death a Palestinian teenager in east Jerusalem, sparking violent riots.
The unrest continued throughout the summer after Israel attacked Gaza in response to heavy Hamas rocket fire. The arrival of Jewish nationalists into the heart of an Arab neighborhood, coupled with the clashes at Jerusalem's most sensitive holy site, has further fueled the tensions.