Right-wing Israeli rabbi assaulted after visiting slain autistic Palestinian's grieving family, police say

The group allegedly grabbed Yehudah Glick, former Knesset Member for the Likud party, and "tumbled" him down a flight of stairs after he left the East Jerusalem home of slain 32-year-old Iyad Hallak.

Glick had gone to Hallak's home to present his condolences to the family, according to media reports.

He was taken to a hospital after the beatings.

In a Friday statement, Glick said he was subjected to a "murderous lynch" and an "assassination attempt". He said the men were not armed.

Glick is best known for his campaigns to expand Jewish access to Al-Aqsa compound, known as the Temple Mount to the Jewish community. He has run into trouble with authorities for walking, praying and filming in Al-Aqsa, as well as leading groups of Jews into the compound.

Glick survived an assassination attempt in 2014, when a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement fired several shots in his chest.

Hallak, who was severely autistic, was shot and killed by Israeli police in Old Jerusalem on Saturday after they mistakenly believed he was armed.

As Hallak was walking to a special needs centre he frequented, police began chasing him while shooting and calling him a terrorist, according to Haaretz.

Scared and sustaining a gun wound to his leg, Hallak ran into a garbage room, where his care worker also took refuge upon hearing the gunshots on her way to the same centre.

When police entered the area, the care worker shouted that Hallak was disabled multiple times in Hebrew, Haaretz reported. A frightened Hallak, who was laying on his back and bleeding on the floor, yelled "I am with her" in Arabic, referring to the care worker.

Regardless, police shot Hallak several times at close range, killing him.

Hallak was unarmed, and the "suspicious item" identified by police turned out to be his mobile phone.

His execution sparked demonstrations in Jerusalem and Arab towns across Israel.

Protesters held signs that read "Palestinian Lives Matter", "Iyad's life mattered" and "Black Lives Matter", echoing the protests that have erupted across the United States this week.

Some held placards that drew parallels between Hallak's killing and that of George Floyd, the African-American man whose death at the hands of a white Minnesota police officer sparked the US demonstrations.

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