MEDIA STATEMENT
9 January 2017
VEHICULAR TERRORIST ATTACK IN JERUSALEM
From Anton Block, President, and Peter Wertheim, Executive Director:
We are shocked and appalled by the terrorist attack in Jerusalem on Sunday, during which a Palestini­an terrorist rammed a truck into a group of soldiers at a popular promenade in the city’s south. It has been reported that the driver accel­er­ated as he struck the group, then reversed to run over the victims a second time.
Four young Israelis are dead and sixteen others are injured. The dead are Erez Orbach, 20, Shir Hajaj, 22, Shira Zur, 20 and Yael Yekutiel, 20.
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.
We are also appalled by the events that imme­di­ately followed this attack. As has become routine, Hamas praised the attack as “heroic”, the Fatah movement of the Palestini­an President Mahmoud Abbas labeled the terrorist a “martyr”, while in Gaza, sweets were handed out to celebrate the atrocity. These acts of glor­i­fic­a­tion of terror and incite­ment to further violence must stop.
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