Three Americans and one Briton were among the four Jewish worshippers killed in an attack on a Jerusalem synagogue Tuesday morning.
The American victims were Moshe Twersky, 59; Arieh Kupinsky, 43 and Kalman Levi, 55. The fourth victim was Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, a British-Israeli citizen. Two Palestinian men rushed into the synagogue with knives and a gun during morning prayers, assaulting men apparently at random. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the three Americans were dual US-Israeli citizens.
US secretary of state John Kerry issued a statement decrying the violent murders, while Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so since the recent escalation in violence.
Police shot both assailants dead after the attack. The Israeli army posted photos showing a man in a prayer shawl dead alongside a bloodied butcher’s cleaver. Rosenfeld told BBC Radio 4: “Everybody was praying peacefully without any disruptions whatsoever and then all of a sudden the terrorists go into a place of worship and peace and turn it into a killing nightmare.”
According to public profiles, Twersky was head of an English speaking religious college in Jerusalem, the son of Isadore Twersky, the founder of Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies, and the grandson of a founder of the Modern Orthodox movement. Levi, Kupinsky and Goldberg were also rabbis.
The two Palestinians were identified by family members as cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal. The attack on the synagogue in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Har Nof, comes nearly a day after the discovery of Palestinian driver, Yusuf Ramuni, found hanged in his bus. Police said an autopsy indicated suicide, but the man’s family contends he was attacked. The recent violence follows a 50-day war in July and August between Gaza and Israel.
The American victims were Moshe Twersky, 59; Arieh Kupinsky, 43 and Kalman Levi, 55. The fourth victim was Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, a British-Israeli citizen. Two Palestinian men rushed into the synagogue with knives and a gun during morning prayers, assaulting men apparently at random. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld confirmed that the three Americans were dual US-Israeli citizens.
US secretary of state John Kerry issued a statement decrying the violent murders, while Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack, the first time he has done so since the recent escalation in violence.
Police shot both assailants dead after the attack. The Israeli army posted photos showing a man in a prayer shawl dead alongside a bloodied butcher’s cleaver. Rosenfeld told BBC Radio 4: “Everybody was praying peacefully without any disruptions whatsoever and then all of a sudden the terrorists go into a place of worship and peace and turn it into a killing nightmare.”
According to public profiles, Twersky was head of an English speaking religious college in Jerusalem, the son of Isadore Twersky, the founder of Harvard University’s Center for Jewish Studies, and the grandson of a founder of the Modern Orthodox movement. Levi, Kupinsky and Goldberg were also rabbis.
The two Palestinians were identified by family members as cousins Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal. The attack on the synagogue in the ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood of Har Nof, comes nearly a day after the discovery of Palestinian driver, Yusuf Ramuni, found hanged in his bus. Police said an autopsy indicated suicide, but the man’s family contends he was attacked. The recent violence follows a 50-day war in July and August between Gaza and Israel.