NEVER AGAIN: An unholy act in a holy place

Two Palestinian terrorists barged into a synagogue in Jerusalem Tuesday morning yielding guns, knives and a meat cleaver, killing at least four worshipers and one policeman and wounding at least seven others.

Three of the four murdered worshipers were Am-ericans: Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 43, Hy”d; Rabbi Kalmen Levin, 55, Hy”d; and Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 59, Hy”d. The fourth, Rabbi Avraham Goldberg, 68, Hy”d, was a British citizen. The police officer Zidan Seyf, a Druze from the Arab town of Yanuh-Jat, died Tuesday evening from wounds incurred during the shootout, in which the terrorists died. 

The terrorists entered the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue on Shimon Agassi St. in the Har Nof neighborhood during Shacharit services at about 7 am. They opened fire and struck worshipers with a meat cleaver and knives.

Shas Party member Aryeh Deri, who was in the synagogue during the attack, told Army radio there was blood on the pews and floor, with wounded and dead worshipers still wrapped in their Talit and Tefilin. “They were shouting ‘Allah Akbar,’ as they carried out the attack,” he said.

Yosef Pasternak, also at the synagogue during the assault, told Israel Radio, “I saw people lying on the floor, blood everywhere. People were trying to fight with [the attackers] but they didn’t have much of a chance.” 

Another witness recalled how “two people came out with their faces half missing, looking like they’d been attacked with knives.” A medical volunteer at the scene told Bloomberg that the attackers hacked off the arm of a worshiper who was wearing Tefilin.

Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, part of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), claimed responsibility for the attack, calling the attack a “normal reaction to the crimes of the occupation.” The claim was posted on the movement’s Facebook page and through other social media. 

At a press conference Tuesday, Prime Minister Netanyahu angrily pointed to the incitement coming from the Palestinian Authority and Fatah Party, both controlled by Mahmoud Abbas, as a primary reason for the attack.