Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on November 18, 2014

A pair of attackers armed with axes, knives and firearms stormed a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday, killing at least four worshipers and injuring others before a police officer shot them dead, in the most serious strike in the holy city in years, police said.

The attackers burst into the four-story synagogue in the devoutly religious western Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof, attacking a crowd attending early morning prayers, according to eyewitnesses and initial Israeli news reports.

Israeli media cited witnesses as describing worshipers wrapped in their prayer shawls felled in mid-prayer, on the floor in pools of blood. Among the victims was a prominent rabbi.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was convening a special security meeting, and said Israel would respond harshly to what he called the cruel killing of Jewsby despicable murderers.

In a phone call to Netanyahu, U.S. Secretary of State John F. Kerry expressed condolences for the attack and condemned it as senseless brutality.

Kerrys demand for Palestinian condemnation prompted a statement from Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who denounced killing civilians from any side including the Jewish worshippers.

At the same time, Abbas demanded a halt to what he called Israeli intrusions into a contested holy site in Jerusalems old city.

In the Gaza strip, the attack was welcomed with celebratory gunfire and a statement from Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, who called it a response to the continuing crimes of the occupation. Another official, Hussam Badran, called it an heroic act.

While recent Israeli-Palestinian tensions have been punctuated by lone wolf-type of attacks, such as stabbings, Tuesdays assault represented a marked escalation, chillingly reminiscent of large-scale strikes in Israeli cities that took place during two previous Palestinian uprisings during the period from the late 1980s to the early 2000s.

The fact that the attack took place at a Jewish house of worship was certain to further inflame religious tensions. This month has seen fiery attacks on a northern Israeli synagogue and a West Bank mosque, however these caused property damage and no loss of life or injuries.

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Four worshippers killed in attack on Jerusalem synagogue

Category: Synagogue
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