Israeli activist Yehuda Glick wants Jews to be allowed to pray on what is referred to as the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. For that provocation, a man driving a motorcycle pulled up beside him, asked him his name, and then shot him in the chest four times. Both the terrorist groups Fatah and Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for the attempted murder.

Even suggesting a change in the status quo of the Temple Mount area is an extremely dangerous proposition. Muslims, who have controlled the site that houses the al-Aqsa Mosque since 1967, allow Jews to visit but not pray there.

On October 29, Glick had just exited a conference about greater Israeli rights on the Temple Mount when he was attacked. He remains in a medically induced coma.

The next day, after a sharp gun battle, Israeli police shot and killed the suspected shooter, Moataz Hejazi.

Following the shooting, and due to subsequent riots, Israeli police shut down the Temple Mount for the first time since 2000. The closure enraged Palestinian leaders. A spokesman for Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas, Nabil Abu Rudeina, said, “This dangerous Israeli escalation is a declaration of war on the Palestinian people and its sacred places and on the Arab and Islamic nation” (emphasis added).

Arab social media was also emotional. A website targeting Temple Mount activists summed up sentiment by issuing a hit list of activists with a caption reading: “We, the Muslims, will not allow anyone to touch al-Aqsa. Your actions are liable to drag the entire region into war. The al-Aqsa Mosque is for Muslims only, and we will not allow you to control it.”

On the other side of the fence, Likud lawmaker Moshe Feiglin, an Orthodox Jew said, “All the nations have their holiest site, some in Mecca, some in Rome, some in the Far East. We the Jewish people have one place; it’s this place. It cannot and it will not be taken away from us.” Although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has proclaimed the status quo will not change, Feiglin is still adamantly fighting for Jews to be able to worship at the Temple Mount.

A Quiet Intifada

With both sides at odds, Dr. Meir Margalit, a Jerusalem City council member who holds the East Jerusalem portfolio, thinks a war has already begun. Margalit said, “For several weeks I have said that we are inside the third intifada.” He goes on to say, “It’s more similar to the first intifada, which was defined by rock throwing and firebombs.”

An article titled “A Quiet Intifada in Jerusalem” claims it’s been taking place for a few months now. “It’s quiet,” the article says, “because the media isn’t telling you about it.”

“There have been thousands of incidents of attacks on Jews, with rocks thrown, fireworks show as weapons (the newest thing), and Molotov cocktails hurled at Jews where the east and west of the city meet, as well as dozens of cases of frustrated Jews attacking Arabs. Not to mention isolated cases of shootings spattered throughout the city reported on the back pages of newspapers,” Nadav Shragai wrote in Israel Hayom (September 3).

Intifada is an Arabic word that basically means a violent insurgency. With the Palestinians in Israel, it means shootings and bombings and other violence against soldiers and civilians. We saw that with the first intifada in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and then again in the early 2000s with the second intifada. That’s when we saw Palestinians suicide bombing restaurants, buses, train stations and even Passover observances.

Now Jerusalem itself is shaking. Palestinians haven’t yet reached the level of terrorism that we saw in the first two intifadas. That would make more headlines, like in 2001, when a terrorist carried a bomb filled with nails into a pizza parlor in Jerusalem. He murdered 15 people, including seven children and a pregnant woman.

But the violence is intensifying. On November 10, two Israelis were killed and two wounded in two separate terrorist attacks. The same day, Israeli police shot and killed a man who attacked them with a knife.

Israelis have also become the target of what the media has taken to calling the “auto Intifada”—a series of attacks on Jewish civilians in Jerusalem by Palestinians driving vehicles. Another four Jews dead, including a 3-month-old baby, due to Palestinians ramming their cars into people waiting for the train.

So when the Jews fear a third intifada, you can see why. You can understand why they fear that a quiet intifada will lead to a deafening explosion.

Shragai goes on to say that Palestinians have been attacking Jews with rocks, firebombs and even fireworks. There have also been some scattered shootings—for days now, Arab youths have been vandalizing a passenger train that serves Jewish and Palestinian neighborhoods. This isn’t going away. It’s building toward something.

The first intifada happened in Israel in the late 1980s. In December 1987, an Israeli was killed in Gaza. One day later, four Palestinians were killed by a truck. As rumor spread that the killings were intentional, Palestinians became enraged. As Israelis and Palestinians attacked each other, Molotov cocktails were thrown, rocks were thrown, roads blocked, tires burned, gasoline bombs used, grenades attacked and guns fired. During the uprising, 3,000-plus Israelis were injured and almost 200 killed. In total around 1,100 Palestinians lost their lives. The Madrid Conference in 1991 worked to establish peace between Israel and Palestinians, but the official end to the conflict came in 1993 with the Oslo Accords.

The second intifada, also termed the al-Aqsa Intifada, began in 2000 after then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon visited the Temple Mount. Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israel’s defense minister at the time, had contacted Jabril Rajoub, Palestinian security chief at the time, to ensure there would be no problems. Rajoub assured there would be no problems with Sharon’s visit if he didn’t enter the mosques. However, Palestinians viewed the visit as a confrontation and responded by throwing rocks. Israeli forces responded with force, killing Palestinians.The next day Palestinians responded with coordinated attacks. Sharon was blamed for causing the start but there had already been tensions before. Just prior to the visit, a Palestinian policeman working with an Israeli policeman shot his Israeli counterpart. The Palestinian Authority used Voice of Palestine, its official radio station, to call Palestinians to participate in riots at the Temple Mount. The Palestinians continued to attack. They attacked religious sites held dear by Israelis. Most armed attackers were part of Yasser Arafat’s militia—Tanzim. The end of the second intifada came in 2005, with the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit. The intifada claimed the lives of 1,000 Israelis and 3,000 Palestinians.

Palestinians are at continued odds with Israel as they pursue their own territory. Temperatures continue to heat in Israel as Arabs and Israelis fight. This past summer brought more attacks. Arabs threw rocks at trains, buses, cars and even people—two young children were attacked in Nazareth Illit. The attacks became more brazen as Palestinians and Israelis attacked each other in the middle of the day.

How long will this “quiet intifada” keep boiling in the midst of Jerusalem before the lid blows off the pot? The two previous intifadas had disastrous consequences in Jerusalem; recent attacks in Jerusalem could lead to a third. What does that mean for the rest of the world?

Why must we pay attention?

Jerusalem is the thermometer for world events in the end time! Passages in both the Old and New Testament show that Jerusalem is the center around which world events orbit in the months and days leading up to the return of Jesus Christ. To those who understand this prophetic reality, Jerusalem is more than just another city blistered by chaos: It’s a thermometer for measuring—and anticipating—end-time events.

“Presently the Jews rule over all of Jerusalem, even though East Jerusalem is mostly comprised of Arabs,” Gerald Flurry writes in his booklet Jerusalem in Prophecy. “The Palestinians want this half for their capital. But most of the Jews won’t budge, saying they must rule all of Jerusalem.” Highlighting a prophecy in Zechariah 14:1-2, Mr. Flurry shows that “East Jerusalem—one half of the city—will be conquered by the Palestinians!”

Watch closely for tensions to boil over in Jerusalem. As they do, they will trigger the events leading to the return of Jesus Christ.

To learn more about how these attacks affect the rest of the world, read “Jerusalem: Your Thermometer for Measuring Crises.”