Massacre in Jerusalem synagogue
Tuesday morning started like any other weekday at the Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighbourhood, with locals arriving at 6.30am for prayers.
Half an hour later, the prayer hall was transformed into a horror scene, after two Palestinian terrorists went on a killing spree sending blood and body parts flying across the floor.
Four men, murdered, lay on the floor, still wrapped in their tallits and wearing tefillin. Three were US-born rabbis: the noted yeshivah head Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59; Aryeh Kupinsky, 43; and Calman Levine, 55.
The fourth fatality was Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 58, an immigrant from the UK.
Several injured men were also on the floor, similarly dressed for prayer. Zidan Saif, a young Druze police officer also died from wounds sustained in the attack, bringing the death toll from the incident to five.
“I passed by the bodies of two terrorists and walked to the synagogue where I initially saw one body on the floor and then saw other bodies,” Avi Nafussi, a medic who arrived on the scene 90 seconds after shooting began, told The AJN.
When Nafussi, a volunteer with United Hatzolah, first arrived the shooting was still going on and he was told to take cover by his car.
He pushed himself to continue past the bodies – even though, hauntingly, he recognised one of the deceased – and help the wounded, getting them loaded into ambulances.
Another first responder, Mati Goldstein, said that the scene was “very big” – meaning that there were large amounts of blood and body parts.
His organisation, ZAKA, gathers all remains for burial, and when The AJN spoke to him, his team was still working on this task.
Goldstein said that the scene was reminiscent of the 2008 terrorist shooting in Jerusalem’s Merkaz Harav yeshivah, which killed eight Jewish men.
“When I went into the scene it took me six years back to the shooting at Merkaz Harav,” he commented. “People who went to pray, and who has tallit and tefillin on, were killed.”
The two terrorists in Tuesday’s attack, Ghassan Abu Jamal and Uday Abu Jamal, entered the synagogue with a gun and knives, and started attacking members of the congregation, who were in the middle of prayers. Orders have been given for the punitive demolition of their homes.
“Jerusalem bows its head in pain and sorrow on this difficult morning … I promise Jerusalem residents we will continue to fight terror with full force.”
Nir Barkat Mayor of Jerusalem The perpetrators were residents of the eastern Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber, and one of them is believed to have worked in a shop close to the synagogue, and had the trust of local residents.
This is particularly disturbing to Har Nof residents, who have watched the spate of attacks at public locations such as light railway stops with concern.
“I thought we have to be on alert at bus stops in case a car smashes into people, but now it’s everywhere and it could be anyone,” said Jennifer Breuer, who lives close to the murder scene.
Breuer, who is originally from Sydney, told The AJN that she was “shaking with shock” when her son, who learnt about the attack when he drove past the synagogue shortly after it occurred, phoned her.
Breuer said that normal life will continue.
“This is the reality of what we live with in Israel,” she said. But not everyone in Har Nof was able to be so stoic. Nafussi said: “I have three kids at home and my wife is scared to send them to school now.” Jerusalem’s mayor Nir Barkat rushed to reassure residents that authorities will be determined in the face of terrorism.
“We will not surrender to terror,” he said. “We will stand strong and defend our city from those who try to disturb the peace of our capital.”
Barkat also spoke of his horror at the attack, saying: “Jerusalem bows its head in pain and sorrow on this difficult morning. Jerusalem residents peacefully praying in a synagogue in the heart of Jerusalem were cruelly slaughtered in cold blood while wearing their prayer shawls.
“I promise Jerusalem residents that we will continue to fight terror with full force and we will do everything in our power to restore peace and security to Jerusalem.”
The attack comes on the heels of other attacks in recent weeks, several of them fatal. The most recent came just two days before the synagogue attack, when a 32-year-old Jewish man was stabbed with a screwdriver in the city centre.
He is recovering from his injuries.
Several Palestinian political groups reacted with glee to the scene in the synagogue. “The operation in Jerusalem was a natural reaction to the crimes committed by the Israeli occupation and its settlers,” claimed Islamic Jihad in a statement. The Popular Resistance Committees called the attack “heroic.”
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri urged for more attacks, and said that this one was a response to “ongoing Israeli crimes against the Al-Aqsa mosque” – referring to a Palestinian conspiracy theory regarding this Jerusalem mosque – and in response to the death of an Arab bus driver the previous day. Yussuf al-Ramuni, 32, was found hanged in a bus in a Jerusalem depot, and while an autopsy with Palestinian representation concluded that he committed suicide, Palestinians – ranging from the news agency of the Western-backed Palestinian Authority to hard-liners – are almost unanimously saying that it was murder.
The Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas – also known as Abu Mazen – condemned the attack, saying in a statement: “The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshippers in one of their places of prayer in West Jerusalem and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it.” However, Israeli ministers hold him responsible for the violent atmosphere among his population – for failing to calm passions in Jerusalem, and for perpetuating conspiracy theories regarding supposed threats to the Al-Aqsa mosque.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said of the attack: “This is the direct result of the incitement being led by Hamas and Abu Mazen, incitement which the international community is irresponsibly ignoring. We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were met by reprehensible murderers.” He called claims that al-Ramuni was murdered a “blood libel” and said that he wants to see strong denunciation of terrorism internationally.
Nathan Jeffay
Pictured: Thousands attending the funeral of Rabbi Moshe Twersky. Photo: Srayah Diament/ Tazpit News Agency
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