Hamas praises Jerusalem synagogue attack
Posted November 18, 2014 6:58 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Hamas praises the deadly attack in Jerusalem on Tuesday, after Palestinian men armed with axes and knives killed four people in a synagogue before being shot dead by police, the deadliest such attack in the city in six years and a reflection of deepening religious animosity.
The attack took place shortly after dawn in an ultra-Orthodox neighbourhood of West Jerusalem. Israel’s ambulance service said at least eight people were seriously wounded.
Palestinian radio reports described the attackers as “martyrs” and the Islamist group Hamas praised the attack. Loudspeakers at mosques in Gaza called out congratulations.
Palestinian media named the attackers as Ghassan and Udai Abu Jamal, cousins from the Jerusalem district of Jabel al-Mukaber, and said they were members of a small militant group.
“Hamas blesses the heroic operation in Jerusalem and regards it a natural reaction to the execution of martyr Youssef Al-Ramouni and the continued crimes by the Israeli occupation against the Al-Aqsa mosque. Hamas calls for the continuation of revenge operations and stresses that the Israel occupation bear responsibility for tension in Jerusalem because of the continued crime by settlers there,” Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blamed the attack on both Hamas and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whom he accused of urging Palestinians towards violence.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called Netanyahu to offer his condolences, his spokeswoman said.
Violence in Jerusalem, areas of Israel and the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories has surged in the past month, fuelled by a dispute over Jerusalem’s holiest shrine, which has given rise to fears of a religious conflict.
On Monday a Palestinian bus driver was found hanged in a vehicle in Jerusalem. Israeli police, citing autopsy results, said he had committed suicide. But the driver’s family said they suspected foul play and the incident led to clashes.
Hamas called for retaliation after the bus driver’s death.
Residents trace the violence in Jerusalem to July, when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the abduction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.
The summer war between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza and a row over access to a Jerusalem compound that is sacred to Muslims and Jews alike have also been triggers for violence.
The synagogue attack was the worst in the city since 2008, when a Palestinian gunman shot dead eight people in a religious seminary school in the city.
