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Four Killed in Jerusalem Synagogue Complex Four Killed in Jerusalem Synagogue Complex
(35 minutes later)
JERUSALEM — Two assailants armed with a gun, knives and axes stormed a synagogue complex in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of West Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, killing at least four worshipers during morning prayers, according to the police. The attack was one of the deadliest in the city in years.JERUSALEM — Two assailants armed with a gun, knives and axes stormed a synagogue complex in an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of West Jerusalem on Tuesday morning, killing at least four worshipers during morning prayers, according to the police. The attack was one of the deadliest in the city in years.
Police who arrived at the scene shot the attackers dead. Initial reports suggested that they were Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem. Police officers who arrived at the scene shot and killed the attackers. Initial reports suggested that they were Palestinian residents of East Jerusalem.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called the attack “the direct result of the incitement” led by Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction, and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, and set a security consultation for noon. “We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were eliminated by despicable murderers,” he said in a statement.
At least a dozen others at the synagogue were wounded, according to the director of Magen David Adom, the Israeli ambulance service.At least a dozen others at the synagogue were wounded, according to the director of Magen David Adom, the Israeli ambulance service.
The target of the attack was a building that housed several synagogues on a quiet street in the Har Nof neighborhood.The target of the attack was a building that housed several synagogues on a quiet street in the Har Nof neighborhood.
“This is a central synagogue in the neighborhood,” Aryeh Deri, a legislator from the Shas party who lives in Har Nof, told Israel Radio. “Jews who came to pray are lying on the synagogue floor in their tefillin and talit,” he added, referring to the men’s ritual phylacteries and prayer shawls. “This is a central synagogue in the neighborhood,” Aryeh Deri, a legislator from the Shas party who lives in Har Nof, told Israel Radio. “Jews who came to pray are lying on the synagogue floor in their tefillin and tallit,” he added, referring to ritual phylacteries and prayer shawls.
The attack came at a time of soaring tensions in Jerusalem fueled in large part by a dispute over a sensitive holy site in the Old City known to Muslims as the Al Aqsa Mosque compound, or the Noble Sanctuary, and to Jews as Temple Mount. The attack came at a time of soaring tensions in Jerusalem fueled in large part by a dispute over a sensitive holy site in the Old City known to Muslims as the Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as the Temple Mount.
In recent weeks, Palestinian individuals have carried out several vehicular assaults and stabbings against Israelis in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Tel Aviv, killing three civilians, a soldier and a border police officer. In another episode, a Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem attempted to assassinate a prominent Jewish activist who has pushed for more Jewish access and prayer rights at the volatile holy site. The gunman was later killed in a shootout with police; the Jewish activist, Yehuda Glick, survived. In recent weeks, Palestinian individuals have carried out several vehicular assaults and stabbings against Israelis in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Tel Aviv, killing three civilians, a soldier and a border police officer. In another episode, a Palestinian gunman from East Jerusalem attempted to assassinate a prominent Jewish activist who has pushed for more Jewish access and prayer rights at the holy site. The gunman was later killed in a shootout with the police; the Jewish activist, Yehuda Glick, survived.
Tensions rose again in the city on Monday after a Palestinian driver for an Israeli bus company was found hanged to death in his bus. The driver’s family insisted that he had been the victim of a lynching by Jewish extremists, setting off riots in the driver’s neighborhood, though police said an autopsy, that was also attended by an expert of the family’s choice, found there was no foul play and ruled the death a suicide. Tensions rose again in the city on Monday after a Palestinian driver for an Israeli bus company was found hanged in his bus. The driver’s family said that he had been the victim of a lynching by Jewish extremists, setting off riots in the driver’s neighborhood, though the police said an autopsy, which was also attended by an expert of the family’s choice, found that there had been no foul play and ruled the death a suicide.
Spokespeople for Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction, quickly praised the attack as justifiable revenge for the death of the driver. Press officers for Hamas, the militant Palestinian faction, quickly praised the attack Tuesday as justifiable revenge for the driver’s death.
“The new operation is heroic and a natural reaction to Zionist criminality against our people and our holy places,” a Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Masiri, wrote in a Facebook post. “We have the full right to revenge for the blood of our martyrs in all possible means.” Another Hamas leader, Sami Abu Zuhri, called for “revenge acts to continue in Jerusalem.” “The new operation is heroic and a natural reaction to Zionist criminality against our people and our holy places,” a Hamas spokesman, Mushir al-Masri, wrote in a Facebook post. “We have the full right to revenge for the blood of our martyrs in all possible means.”
Another Hamas spokesman, Sami Abu Zuhri, called for “revenge acts to continue in Jerusalem.”
In Gaza, some people celebrated by shooting guns in the air, and praise for God and the so-called martyrs poured from mosque loudspeakers. “God is great,” the call said. “We praise God for the victory and dignity in Jerusalem and we say the martyrs are now in paradise.”
Right-wing Israeli politicians blamed Mr. Abbas of the Palestinian Authority for the attack. They say that Mr. Abbas has been fomenting violence by accusing Israel of trying to change the status quo at the holy site, at which non-Muslims are allowed to visit only during certain hours and are not to pray openly.
Mr. Netanyahu of Israel has repeatedly said that he does not intend to change the rules, but members of his Likud Party and ministers in his government are among those who have supported legislation calling for increased Jewish access and prayer and who have visited the site, fueling tensions.
“The hands that held the axes are of the terrorists but the voice is the voice of Abu Mazen,” declared Yuval Steinitz, the minister of strategic affairs, using an alternate name for Mr. Abbas. “Whoever calls on Muslims to defend the mosque in Al Aqsa using all the means against Jews bears direct responsibility for the horrific pogrom at the synagogue in Har Nof and all the attacks and deadly riots in Jerusalem.”
In a statement, Naftali Bennett, the economy minister and head of the Jewish Home party, called Mr. Abbas “one of the greatest terrorists the Palestinian people sprouted” and said he “bears direct responsibility for Jewish blood spilled in tallit and tefillin.”
Witnesses told Israel Radio that they heard 15 to 20 gunshots as police officers battled the attackers around 7 a.m., while people at morning prayers tried to take cover.
“He crouched under a chair, blood spattered on him from the person who sat in front of him, he fainted,” Rabbi Shmuel Pinchas said of his 13-year-old grandson, who prays at the synagogue daily. “People were in the middle of prayer and people could not respond. There is nowhere to hide as the synagogue is closed on all sides.”
Yehuda Meshi Zahav, the founder of Zaka, an ultra-Orthodox disaster-response group, said the setting made the attack all the more painful.
“I’ve seen incidents with many more killed,” he told Israel Radio, “but to see this difficult scene of Jews wrapped in their tallit, and tefillin on the arms and heads, wallowing in huge puddles of blood inside a synagogue with dozens of holy books on the floor — these are scenes we only saw during the Holocaust.”