The Times of Israel
Dateline Jerusalem – Four people were killed early this morning when two Palestinian assailants entered a synagogue in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood. The two terrorists, from East Jerusalem, were killed. Condemnation over the attack has poured in from Israeli and international leaders, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, blamed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for inciting terrorism against Israel.
Bahrain’s Foreign Minister, Khalid Bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa, issued a statement condemning the deadly terror attack in Jerusalem.
“The murder of Jews praying in a synagogue is a crime,” he says, as reported on the Walla news site.
“The injustice of the occupation does not give a right to cause harm to innocent worshipers.”
Three of the four victims of the deadly Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue had U.S. citizenship, a spokeswoman for the State Dept. said this morning, confirming an announcement made earlier by Israeli police.
“We can confirm that three U.S. citizens, Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky and Cary William Levine were killed in the attack on a synagogue in Jerusalem,” she told reporters traveling with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in London.
[img]2872|right|Rabbi Moshe Twersky||no_popup[/img]
Earlier, Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said the fourth victim was an Israeli with British nationality.
Rabbi Yitzchak Mordechai Rubin, the chief rabbi of the Bnei Torah synagogue in Har Nof, where the four were killed, spoke at the funeral for three of the victims.
“We are here, standing in front of these three holy men, the best of our community, Torah scholars whose blood flowed like water,” he said.
“When we count the widows and orphans that were added to the Israeli nation this morning, four widows, 24 orphans on one street.”
Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 40, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, and Rabbi Kalman Levine, 50, will be buried at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery later today.
The funeral of the fourth victim, 59-year-old Rabbi Moshe Twersky, took place earlier.
“Wrapped in a prayer shawl and phylacteries, the four victims were massacred, and numerous more suffered injuries,” Rabbi Rubin said.
“We have passed from a private state of mourning to a public one.”
The Jerusalem Municipality and police decide to bolster Civil Guard activity in neighborhoods across the city, in the wake of the latest terror attack.
We decided to launch an extensive campaign to recruit volunteers for the Civil Guard in Jerusalem,” a spokesman said at the end of a briefing with Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino and Jerusalem District Commander of police Moshe Edri.
“I call on the residents of Jerusalem to volunteer and help strengthen the civilian aid to security forces.”
The Civil Guard is a division of the Israel Police and consists mainly of civilian volunteers.
Thousands gathered in the Har Nof synagogue that was the site of this morning’s terror attack for the funeral procession of three of the men.
