Palestinians kill 4 in Jerusalem synagogue attack

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

By TIA GOLDENBERG

(AP) An Israeli forensic expert stands next to the bodies of two Palestinians at the...
Full Image

JERUSALEM (AP) — Two Palestinian cousins armed with meat cleavers and a gun stormed a Jerusalem synagogue during morning prayers Tuesday, killing four people in the city's bloodiest attack in years. Police killed the attackers in a shootout.

The attack ratcheted up fears of sustained violence in a city already on edge amid soaring tensions over its most contested holy site.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to "respond harshly," describing the attack as a "cruel murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by despicable murderers." He immediately ordered the demolition of the attackers' homes, as well as homes of Palestinians who carried out several other recent attacks.

Police said the dead worshippers were three Americans and a Briton, and that all held dual Israeli citizenship. The attack occurred in Har Nof, an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood that has a large population of English-speaking immigrants.

(AP) A relative displays photos of cousins Ghassan, right, and Oday Abu Jamal at the...
Full Image The U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem identified the Americans as Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine and Mosheh Twersky.

Twersky, the grandson of a renowned rabbi from Boston, Joseph Soloveichik, was the head of Yeshivas Toras Moshe, a religious seminary for English-speaking students.

Israeli authorities identified the British man as Avraham Goldberg.

Thousands of people attended a joint funeral for Kupinsky, Levine and Goldberg before sundown— held outside the synagogue where the attack occurred. Earlier, blood was streaked across the floors, soaked prayer books and shawls there.

One Canadian was wounded in the attack, said Francois Lasalle, a spokesman for Canada's Foreign Affairs Department. He declined to provide further details.

(AP) Palestinian supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small...
Full Image U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said he spoke to Netanyahu after the assault and denounced it as an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so since a recent spike in deadly violence against Israelis. He also called for an end to Israeli "provocations" surrounding a sacred shrine holy to both Jews and Muslims.

The attack was the deadliest in Jerusalem since a Palestinian assailant killed eight students at a Jewish seminar in March 2008.

Police spokeswoman Luba Samri identified the assailants as Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal from the Jabal Mukaber neighborhood in east Jerusalem, the section of the city captured by Israel in 1967 and claimed by the Palestinians as their capital.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a small militant group, said the cousins were among its members, though it did not say whether it had instructed them to carry out the attack.

(AP) Paramedics carry a body out of a synagogue after an attack in Har Nof, an...
Full Image Hamas, the militant Palestinian group that runs the Gaza Strip, praised the attack. In Gaza, dozens took to the streets to celebrate, with some offering trays full of candy.

Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said six people were wounded in the attack, including two police officers. Four were in serious condition.

Yosef Posternak, who was at the synagogue during the attack, told Israel Radio that about 25 worshippers were inside at the time.

"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," Posternak said.

Clashes later broke out outside the assailants' home, where dozens of police officers had converged. Residents hurled stones at police, who responded using riot dispersal weapons.

(AP) A relative of cousins Ghassan and Oday Abu Jamal is arrested at the family's home in...
Full Image Neighborhood residents, speaking on condition of anonymity for fears for their own safety, said 14 members of the Abu Jamal family were arrested.

Mohammed Zahaikeh, a social activist in Jabal Mukaber, said a relative of the cousins had been released in a 2011 prisoner swap and re-arrested recently by Israeli police. He did not say why.

Israel has been on edge with a spate of attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, killing at least six people in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Tel Aviv in recent weeks before Tuesday's casualties.

The violence has created a special security challenge for Israel, since most of the attackers come from east Jerusalem. More than 200,000 Arab residents there hold residency rights that, in contrast to Palestinians in the neighboring West Bank, allow them to move freely throughout Israel.

Israel's police chief said Tuesday's attack was likely not organized by militant groups, making it more difficult for security forces to prevent the violence.

(AP) Ultra-Orthodox Jews carry the body of Mosheh Twersky during his funeral in...
Full Image "These are individuals who decide to do horrible acts. It's very hard to know ahead of time about every such incident," Yohanan Danino said.

Kerry blamed the attack on Palestinian calls for "days of rage," and said Palestinian leaders must take serious steps to refrain from such incitement. He also urged Palestinian leaders to condemn the attack "in the most powerful terms."

British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond also condemned the violence.

On Monday, several dozen Palestinians clashed with Israeli police in east Jerusalem after rumors surfaced that a Palestinian man had been hanged by Jewish assailants. Police denied the rumors, saying forensic experts determined the death was a suicide.

Late Tuesday, police said they were investigating a Palestinians' claim that he was stabbed in the leg by three Jewish assailants in downtown Jerusalem. The youth was taken to a hospital.

Much of the recent violence stems from tensions surrounding the Jerusalem holy site referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount because of the Jewish temples that stood there in biblical times. It is the most sacred place in Judaism; Muslims refer to it as the Noble Sanctuary, and it is their third holiest site, after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.

The site is so holy that Jews have traditionally refrained from going there, instead praying at the adjacent Western Wall. Israel's chief rabbis have urged people not to ascend to the area, but in recent years, a small but growing number of Jews, including ultranationalist lawmakers, have begun regularly visiting the site, a move seen as a provocation.

---

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20141118/ml--israel-palestinians-491df47377.html

[OriZ 3,164]

Hey, where's expat?

Bulldozing their houses doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

Ok I will save everyone some typing.. You are about to be told

Muslims aren't the only people that kill people

How come you never bring it up when Jews kill people

I bet someone was killed in Israel Yesterday and you did not bring that up

Why are you saying All Muslims are murderers

How many Muslims in this country killed someone in a Synagogue attack, we can't control what happens over there it's two different things.

Lot's of Murders in the USA Yesterday. Why did you not bring some of those up.

How many Christians killed people last year in this country?

[lostinblue 1,989]

Israel to ease gun controls after attack

Israel is to ease controls on carrying weapons for self-defence after a deadly Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on Tuesday.

"In the coming hours, I will ease restrictions on carrying weapons," he said in remarks broadcast on public radio, indicating it would apply to anyone with a licence to carry a gun, such as private security guards and off-duty army officers.

Aharonovitch did not elaborate, but it is believed that under the planned changes security personnel would be allowed to carry their arms even when off duty.

There would also be a "tightening of controls on people coming and going" from areas of annexed Arab east Jerusalem where there have been almost daily clashes between police and stonethrowers for nearly five months.

Tuesday's attack saw two Palestinians from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber bursting into a synagogue during morning prayer and attacking worshippers with meat cleavers and a gun.

They killed four people and wounded another eight before being shot dead by police.

Shortly after the attack, clashes erupted in Jabal Mukaber and police could be seen sealing off the main entrance to the neighbourhood with concrete blocks, an AFP correspondent said.

Aharonovitch also vowed to destroy the homes of those behind Tuesday's attack.

On November 6, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the demolition of the homes of Palestinians after one used a car to ram pedestrians, killing a police officer and an Israeli teenager.

Israel police commissioner Yohanan Danino pledged to beef up security around both synagogues and mosques, and said police would be on alert to prevent further violence and any revenge attacks.

"This is one of the worst attacks we've seen in recent years," he said in a statement.

"I have ordered the district police commanders to prepare for any possibility of revenge attacks, price tags and nationally-motivated disturbances," he said. Price tag is a euphemism for hate crime by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinians and Arabs.

"We must increase patrols around mosques, synagogues and holy places."

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-ease-gun-controls-self-defence-attack-114151965.html#4L5Kaiv

[Novembro 1,763]

Someone got a namechange and I am behind the times. Who's the troll?

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

There was 'Dancing is the streets'. Guess where and by whom....

[Novembro 1,763]

Dancing IS the streets? TMM.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Ergo, you are no different than they are. That explains the never ending conflict in the ME. Violence begets violence.

Hey, where's expat?

Bulldozing their houses doesn't sound like such a bad idea to me.

[OriZ 3,164]

Nah, actually I'm very different.

People who believe nothing should be done to deter terrorists explain the never ending conflict in the ME

Israel to ease gun controls after attack

Israel is to ease controls on carrying weapons for self-defence after a deadly Palestinian attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch said on Tuesday.

"In the coming hours, I will ease restrictions on carrying weapons," he said in remarks broadcast on public radio, indicating it would apply to anyone with a licence to carry a gun, such as private security guards and off-duty army officers.

Aharonovitch did not elaborate, but it is believed that under the planned changes security personnel would be allowed to carry their arms even when off duty.

There would also be a "tightening of controls on people coming and going" from areas of annexed Arab east Jerusalem where there have been almost daily clashes between police and stonethrowers for nearly five months.

Tuesday's attack saw two Palestinians from the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber bursting into a synagogue during morning prayer and attacking worshippers with meat cleavers and a gun.

They killed four people and wounded another eight before being shot dead by police.

Shortly after the attack, clashes erupted in Jabal Mukaber and police could be seen sealing off the main entrance to the neighbourhood with concrete blocks, an AFP correspondent said.

Aharonovitch also vowed to destroy the homes of those behind Tuesday's attack.

On November 6, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the demolition of the homes of Palestinians after one used a car to ram pedestrians, killing a police officer and an Israeli teenager.

Israel police commissioner Yohanan Danino pledged to beef up security around both synagogues and mosques, and said police would be on alert to prevent further violence and any revenge attacks.

"This is one of the worst attacks we've seen in recent years," he said in a statement.

"I have ordered the district police commanders to prepare for any possibility of revenge attacks, price tags and nationally-motivated disturbances," he said. Price tag is a euphemism for hate crime by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinians and Arabs.

"We must increase patrols around mosques, synagogues and holy places."

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/israel-ease-gun-controls-self-defence-attack-114151965.html#4L5Kaiv

I will never understand why Israel has such tight gun control. You would think they would realize that especially in a place like that people need to have the option to defend themselves right away, without waiting for police or military. Can you imagine if one of the people in the synagogue had a gun? It would have been over in an instant. It's silly.

[JohnR! 5,495]

Not really, when you condone the same methods used by those you call terrorists you become neither different nor better than they are.

Nah, actually I'm very different.

People who believe nothing should be done to deter terrorists explain the never ending conflict in the ME

I will never understand why Israel has such tight gun control. You would think they would realize that especially in a place like that people need to have the option to defend themselves right away, without waiting for police or military. Can you imagine if one of the people in the synagogue had a gun? It would have been over in an instant. It's silly.

[OriZ 3,164]

Same methods? How is destroying a terrorist's house the same as slaughtering innocent people? gotta love the hypocritical left's moral equivalence.

If I'm a terrorist and I'm thinking about going and killing innocent people I might think twice if I know it means my family will be left without a home.

[JohnR! 5,495]

You just made a case for the Palestinians.

QED.

Same methods? How is destroying a terrorist's house the same as slaughtering innocent people? gotta love the hypocritical left's moral equivalence.

If I'm a terrorist and I'm thinking about going and killing innocent people I might think twice if I know it means my family will be left without a home.

[OriZ 3,164]

Man, the left is doomed.

[Janelle2002 3,865]

Nah, actually I'm very different.

People who believe nothing should be done to deter terrorists explain the never ending conflict in the ME

I will never understand why Israel has such tight gun control. You would think they would realize that especially in a place like that people need to have the option to defend themselves right away, without waiting for police or military. Can you imagine if one of the people in the synagogue had a gun? It would have been over in an instant. It's silly.

More people would have been killed because everyone would have been shooting every which way. It would have turned into an even more unfortunate event with more people dead.

[OriZ 3,164]

More people would have been killed because everyone would have been shooting every which way. It would have turned into an even more unfortunate event with more people dead.

Possibly. Or, someone would have pulled a gun out and taken the attackers out before they manage to kill 5 people. I guess we'll never know. But when it takes several minutes for cops to arrive, you're leaving innocent people defenseless.