Fifth Person Dies in Jerusalem Synagogue Slayings That Killed 3 American Rabbis; Hamas Calls It Revenge Attack
An Israeli police officer has died from his injuries sustained in the terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue Tuesday that also led to the deaths of three rabbis with dual American-Israeli citizenship, and one with British citizenship. Terrorist group Hamas has claimed that the attack was revenge for the killing of a Palestinian bus driver on Sunday night. An autopsy report reveals, however, that the bus driver committed suicide.
Hamas, which was engaged in a war with Israel over the summer that led to the deaths of over 2,100 people, mostly Palestinians, said that it blamed Jewish settlers for the killing of 32-year-old bus driver Yussuf al-Ramuni.
"The attack in Jerusalem is a reaction to the crime and execution of the martyr al-Ramouni and a reaction to the crimes of the occupation, the Hamas movement is calling for more revenge attacks," Hamas said on its official Al-Aksa TV.
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The Jerusalem Post said claims that Jewish settlers were behind al-Ramuni's death are unfounded, however, pointing to an autopsy report that concluded the driver's death was self-inflicted.
ABC News reported that the Israeli police officer who later died from his injuries was critically wounded in Tuesday's attack when two Palestinians stormed into the Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers armed with a meat cleaver and gun.
President Barack Obama has condemned the "horrific attack" by the two Palestinians, who were shot down by police.
"I strongly condemn today's terrorist attack on worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine, and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more," Obama said in an official White House statement.
"There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians. The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence," Obama added.
Obama asked both Israeli and Palestinian leaders to work together to lower tensions and reject further violence.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to "reply harshly" for the terror attack, which the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has claimed responsibility for.
"We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were met by reprehensible murderers," said Netanyahu.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also spoke out against the killings.
"The presidency condemns the attack on Jewish worshipers in one of their places of prayer in West Jerusalem and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it," a statement from Abbas' administration read.
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, who leads the Ohev Sholom Synagogue in Washington, suggested that the attack on the synagogue was an attack on Jewish people around the world.
"This is an attack on all of us," Herzfeld said, according to CNN. "Any terrorist attack is a horror. But to attack people while they are engaged in prayer, are talking to God, is a new low."
Officials from the Roman Catholic Church of Boston, the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Boston and the Massachusetts Council of Churches all condemned the attack in a joint statement.
"The senseless killing of people in any place must always be denounced, but that these brutal attacks in the synagogue in Jerusalem should have occurred against innocent, unarmed worshippers deserves only the strongest possible condemnation," the statement read.
"Our prayers go out to those who were wounded and are fighting for their lives and to all those devastated by this attack, especially the families of those who were murdered today. In a particular way, we are conscious of the death of one of our neighbors from Boston, a member of a distinguished Jewish family, Rabbi Moshe Twersky."
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation has said it will be leading the American side of the investigation into the killings.
