New York, NY, November 18, 2014 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) expressed shock and outrage at today’s brutal terrorist attack inside a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood, where four Israeli Jews at prayer were killed and two policemen were injured.
Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky and Cary William Levine are among the U.S. citizens who died in the attack as well as British-Israeli national Avraham Shmuel Goldberg. Sergeant-major Zidan Nahad Seif, one of the officers who was wounded in the attack, later died.
According to reports, as many as eight others were injured during the attack, in which two Palestinian terrorists armed with a gun, a meat cleaver and an ax entered the synagogue during morning prayers, shouted “Allahu Akbar” and began indiscriminately attacking worshippers in their prayer shawls. Both of the terrorists were killed by police.
This barbaric attack, which is already being hailed by the violent terrorist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, comes on the heels of a series of violent stabbings, shootings and vehicular run-overs in Jerusalem.
Barry Curtiss-Lusher, ADL National Chair, and Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, issued the following statement:
We are horrified and outraged at this attack targeting Jews at prayer in Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue in Jerusalem.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned this brutal attack after weeks of silence and failure to address the hateful incitement running rampant through Palestinian society. His half-hearted statement is woefully inadequate. Had Mr. Abbas spoken out against earlier terror attacks, lives may have been saved.
We extend our solidarity with the State of Israel and the residents of Jerusalem at this difficult time.