19^th November 2014
by ECAJ President Robert Goot AM SC
We are shocked and appalled by the terrorist attack on Tuesday morning, which targeted Jewish wor­ship­pers at a synagogue in Har Nof, a neigh­bour­hood in Jerusalem. Five people were murdered by the ter­ror­ists, Ghassan Abu Jamal and Uday Aby Jamal, who stormed the synagogue armed with a gun, meat cleaver and axe, during morning prayers, a time when syn­agogues through­out the capital are full of con­greg­ants.
Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, Rabbi Kalman Levine, Rabbi Moshe Twersky were killed instantly during the attack. Twenty four children are now without fathers. A fifth victim, Zidan Sayif, a policeman from the Druze village of Yanuh-Jatt was shot in the head while pro­tect­ing a colleague and succumbed to his wounds several hours later. Zidan is survived by his wife and seven-month-old daughter. Six others were seriously injured in the attack.
The Aus­trali­an Jewish community shares the sorrow, grief and anger caused by this barbaric crime and we pray for the souls of the murdered and for their families to be granted strength at this terrible time.
We thank the Aus­trali­an Ambas­sad­or to Israel, Dave Sharma for his immediate, unequi­voc­al and heartfelt con­dem­na­tion of the terrorist attack and for his support for the people of Israel in this difficult time.
We are also appalled by the events that imme­di­ately followed this attack. In Gaza, mosques broadcast words of praise for the ter­ror­ists through loud­speak­ers, while sweets were handed out on the streets to celebrate the crime. There were similar scenes in the West Bank. A cousin of the ter­ror­ists told journ­al­ists that the family “shouted with joy” upon learning of the attack and the “martyrdom” of the “heroic” ter­ror­ists. Whilst we acknow­ledge the con­dem­na­tion of the murders by PA President Mahmoud Abbas, we condemn the con­tra­dict­ory state­ments of Fatah rep­res­ent­at­ives, applaud­ing this vicious and brutal attack on Jews as Jews.
We echo the sen­ti­ments of US Secretary of State John Kerry who stated that the attack was “the pure result of incite­ment.”
We wish long life to the families of the victims. May the memories of their loved ones be a blessing. We pray that peace can swiftly and per­man­ently return to the holy city of Jerusalem.
Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM | Executive Director
phone: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904 | fax 02 9361 5888
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au