Attack on the Jerusalem Synagogue Tuesday Nov 18,2014

 

Two Palestinians stormed a Jerusalem synagogue, attacking worshippers with knives, axes and guns 
8 people were wounded in the attack which took place in the ultra-Orthodox Har Nof neighbourhood

The attackers, Uday and Rassan Abu Jamal aged 22 and 27 were both killed by Israeli police 

                                                      

 

Victim Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg described as a 'pillar of the community', was born in Liverpool. The father of six held a dual British-Israeli passport.


The others killed in the attack have been named as Rabbi Moshe Twersky, Rabbi Arieh Kopinsky, 43, and Rabbi Calman Levine, who were all dual US-Israeli nationals.
US-Israeli national Rabbi Moshe Twersky(59) emigrated to Israel in 1990 from Boston and leaves his wife and five children.

Rabbi Kalman Levine (55)originally from Kansas City, Missouri, emigrated to Israel in 1982 where he devoted himself to religious study leaves his wife and nine children

Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky was originally from Michigan

The two terrorists were shot dead after the attack by police.

 The attack at the Kehilat Yaakov synagogue on Agasi Street was the deadliest in Israel since a Palestinian assailant killed eight students at a Jewish seminar in March 2008

Palestinian supporters of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, (PFLP), a small militant group, dance while waving their flags, after they heard the news of the shooting


Masked Palestinians hold axes and a gun as they celebrate the massacre of four worshippers and a policeman


A Palestinian woman scatters sweets as she celebrates with others an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue

Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel will 'respond harshly' to the attack and said he would demolish the attacker's homes

Hamas leader Mushir al-Masri described the slaughter as a 'heroic act' leading to condemnation across Israel 
US Secretary of State John Kerry condemned attack on 'innocent people who had come to worship'
Zidan Nahad Seif was named Tuesday as the fifth victim in the attacks. He was a member of Israel's police force

Thousands, including dignitaries President Reuven Rivlin, Public Security Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch and National Police Commissioner Yohanan Danino, gathered at the village of Kfar Yanouch in the Galilee to pay their respects to Sergeant-Major Zidan Saif

Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed revenge on the Palestinians responsible for the attack on the Jerusalem synagogue, pledging to demolish the homes of the men involved. 

Speaking just hours after the attack, which claimed the lives of 5 people, he said he would 'settle the score with every terrorist', claiming those who wanted to force the Israeli people out of Jerusalem would not succeed. 

He said: 'We are in a battle over Jerusalem, our eternal capital.' 

A joint funeral for Kupinsky, Levine and Goldberg before sundown on Tuesday (pictured) - the latter held outside the synagogue where the attack occurred

Israeli Jews attend the funeral of Aryeh Kopinsky, Calman Levine and Avraham Shmuel Goldberg near the scene of the attack at a Jerusalem synagogue

 

Thousands of people turned out for the funerals of the British-born and three American citizens who died

 

 

Much of the recent violence stems from tensions surrounding the Jerusalem holy site referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount

A CHRONOLOGY OF THE ESCALATING VIOLENCE BETWEEN ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS IN RECENT MONTHS

It has been a difficult year for Israelis and Palestinians, with the failure of peace talks and a string of violent incidents that shows no signs of ending. Here is a look at some key recent events:

April 24: Nine months of U.S.-mediated peace talks collapse.

May 15: Two Palestinian teens killed in a West Bank clash with Israeli troops on the day that Palestinians mark their uprooting during the Mideast war over Israel's 1948 creation.

June 2: A Palestinian unity government is sworn in, a major step toward reconciliation between the rival Fatah and Hamas factions. Israel denounces the government because it includes Hamas.

June 12: Three Israeli teenagers - Eyal Yifrah, 19, Gilad Shaar, 16, and Naftali Fraenkel - are abducted and killed by Hamas operatives in the West Bank.

June 13: Israel launches a broad military operation to find the teens, arresting hundreds of Hamas members. Hamas militants in Gaza respond with rocket attacks.

July 2: Mohammed Abu Khdeir, a 16-year-old Palestinian from east Jerusalem, is abducted near his home and burned to death by Israeli extremists in a revenge attack for the deaths of the Israeli teens. The death triggers violent protests.

July 8: Israel launches a military campaign against Hamas in Gaza after heavy rocket fire on Israeli cities. The war lasts 50 days and kills more than 2,100 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to the United Nations. Seventy-two people die on the Israeli side.

Oct. 1: Israel gives final approval for construction of a new housing development in east Jerusalem, the section of the city claimed by the Palestinians as their future capital.

Oct. 2: Israeli nationalists move into apartments secretly purchased in the heart of the Arab neighborhood of Silwan in east Jerusalem.

Oct 20: Israeli nationalists move into more apartments in Silwan.

Oct. 22: A Palestinian rams his car into a crowded Jerusalem train station, killing a 3-month-old Israeli-American girl and a woman from Ecuador. The attack comes after weeks of clashes around a sensitive holy site revered by Jews and Muslims.

Oct. 29: A Palestinian on a motorcycle shoots and seriously wounds Yehuda Glick, an Israeli-American rabbi campaigning for more Jewish access to the contested Jerusalem holy site.

Nov. 5: A Hamas militant slams a minivan into crowd waiting for a train in Jerusalem, killing two.

Nov. 8: Israeli police shoot and kill an Arab Israeli protester at a demonstration in northern Israel. Video indicates the man was walking away from the officer when shot.

Nov. 10: Palestinian attackers kill two Israelis in Tel Aviv and the West Bank in separate stabbing attacks.

Nov. 13: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry meets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jordan's King Abdullah II in Amman; the trio agrees on steps to defuse tensions at Jerusalem holy site.

Nov. 14: Israel lifts age restriction at holy site; Friday prayers go off without incident.

Nov. 16: Police say Israeli man stabbed in the back by an 'Arab' attacker in Jerusalem and wounded. Assailant escapes.

Nov. 17: Israeli government says it will step up punitive demolitions, gives notices to families of Palestinian attackers

Nov. 18: Two Palestinians storm Jerusalem synagogue, kill five and wound eight.