Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By richards on November 19, 2014

In the pious Har Nof neighborhood in the hills of West Jerusalem, early-morning prayers at a landmark synagogue are an integral part of the rhythm of daily religious life. Those who chose that time and place to strike seemed to know that.

Two attackers brandishing weapons including a handgun and a meat cleaver burst into the synagogue early Tuesday, killing four worshipers three of them with American citizenship, including a prominent rabbi, and the fourth a British national. As police officers converged on the scene within minutes, the assailants shot at least one of them before being slain. The officer later died, Israeli media reported.

The assailants were identified as Palestinian cousins from predominantly Arab East Jerusalem, a site of violence in recent months.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, describing the attackers as "animals," vowed a harsh response to the killings, which he blamed on Palestinian incitement. The assault horrified Israelis, drew international condemnation and threatened to further inflame Jewish-Muslim tensions, which were already running high over a contested holy site in Jerusalem.

At least seven Israelis remained hospitalized in the wake of the attack, the deadliest in Jerusalem since 2008.

President Obama condemned the assault, saying "it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence and seek a path forward towards peace."

The White House identified the slain Americans as Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine and Moshe Twersky, the latter a member of a noted Hasidic dynasty. Israeli news reports identified all four of the slain worshipers as rabbis, and the FBI said it was working in "close collaboration" with Israeli authorities on the case, given that three of the victims were U.S. citizens.

Tuesday's violence appeared to fit a pattern of recent "lone wolf" attacks by Palestinians in part embittered by the dispute over the holy site, though it was somewhat more sophisticated and carried out by two people. Israeli officials have not suggested that the assaults were orchestrated by any particular group, but they have accused Palestinian leaders and media of encouraging the anger.

The men who carried out Tuesday's attack, identified by authorities as Udai Abu Jamal and Ghassan Abu Jamal, "have no previous security records and did not operate within the framework of any organization," Yoram Cohen, head of the domestic intelligence agency Shin Bet, told members of a parliamentary committee after the incident, the newspaper Haaretz reported.

Witnesses described panic and pandemonium during the storming of the synagogue, with the dead and wounded crumpling to the floor, still clutching sacred texts. A 12-year-old boy whose father was seriously wounded crawled on the bloodied floor to escape and summon help.

The rest is here:

Jerusalem synagogue attack: 'Lone wolf' pattern seen in deadly assault

Category: Synagogue
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