Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on November 18, 2014

Nov. 18, 2014: This frame grab from an APTN video shows the scene in Jersualem where two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue(AP Photo/APTN)

Four worshippers at a Jerusalem synagogue were killed and six were wounded Tuesday when two Palestinians armed with knives, guns, and axes stormed the building and began attacking people before they were killed in a shootout with police.

The attack in the ultra-Orthodox Har Nof neighborhood in the western part of Jerusalem, was the deadliest in Israel's capital since 2008, when a Palestinian gunman shot eight people in a religious seminary school.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that Israel will "respond harshly" to the attack, which he denounced as a "cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers." U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to Netanyahu after the assault and denounced it as an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence."

Kerry blamed the attack on Palestinian calls for "days of rage," and said Palestinian leaders must take serious steps to refrain from such incitement. He also urged Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack "in the most powerful terms."

Hours after Kerry spoke, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so since a recent spike in deadly violence against Israelis began. He also called for an end to Israeli "provocations" surrounding the sacred site.

In a statement, Abbas' office said he "condemns the killing of the worshippers in a synagogue in west Jerusalem." The statement called for an end to the "invasion" of the mosque at a contested holy site in the city and a halt to "incitement" by Israeli ministers.

Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the attackers were cousins from east Jerusalem, which has been the scene of relentless clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters in recent months. She identified the assailants as Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal from the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood.

Soon after the attack, dozens of police officers gathered outside the Abu Jamals' home. Samri said this was part of the police investigation. She said residents threw stones at the police officers and that police have made arrests in connection with the attack.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a militant group, said the cousins were its members. A PFLP statement did not specify whether the group instructed the cousins to carry out the attack.

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CRUEL MURDER: Bloody attack on Jerusalem synagogue raises tension

Category: Synagogue
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