Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu spoke on Tuesday night in response to the shocking terrorist attack on a Jerusalem synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood that morning.
“We are at the height of a terror campaign focused on Jerusalem. In the middle of shacharit (morning) prayers four innocent and pure Jews were murdered. We send condolences to the families and wishes of recovery to the wounded, among them heroic police officers who prevented a heavy tragedy.”
Relating to the terrorists, Netanyahu said “The human animals who perpetrated this slaughter were full of hatred and incitement, deep hatred and terrible incitement against the Jewish People and its state.
“Hamas, the Islamic Movement and the Palestinian Authority are disseminating countless lies and falsehoods against the State of Israel. They are saying that the Jews are contaminating the Temple Mount. They are saying that we are planning to destroy the Holy Places, that we intend to change the order of prayer there – this is all lies. These lies have already claimed a very heavy price.”
The four who died in the attack were Rabbi Moshe Twersky, hy”d, ‘Rosh Kollel’ for the ‘Torat Moshe’ yeshiva; Rabbi Kalman Levine, hy”d; Aryeh Kupinsky, hy”d, and Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, hy”d. Eight others were wounded, four critically.
“They were all pure souls, victims of this incitement – a wild blood libel,” said Netanyahu.
Netanyahu remarked on the suicide of an Arab Egged bus driver on Monday, an event that even after autopsy results conclusively proved was a suicide was used to incite riots and ultimately the lethal attack in Har Nof the following morning.
“Yesterday a bus driver from eastern Jerusalem committed suicide. He committed suicide. The findings of the pathology report have been published and they prove this unequivocally.
“He committed suicide. But this has not prevented those same elements from inciting and disseminating the blood libel to the effect that he was murdered by Jews. This incitement contributed its part to the shocking slaughter that was perpetrated this morning in a holy place during prayers.”
Referring to Palestinian Authority (PA) Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, Netanyahu noted his office may have condemned the attack, “but that isn’t enough, because at the end of the same sentence he connected the event to imaginary acts that have no basis that he claims Israel is conducting on the Temple Mount.”
“I call on all leaders of the countries of the civilized world: I want to see an uncompromising condemnation of these murders of Israelis and Jews,” said Netanyahu.
Noting on Spain’s vote Tuesday to recognize the PA as a state, Netanyahu added “unfortunately there are those who in these days want to give the Palestinians a prize by recognizing a Palestinian state.”
Netanyahu stated that he had given orders to destroy the houses of the terrorists, although the houses of several terrorists who committed attacks in recent weeks remain standing despite the demolition orders against them.
In conclusion, Netanyahu called on Israeli citizens to stay alert and “respect the law. No one can take the law into their hands, even if the spirit rages and the blood boils. We are in a fight for Jerusalem our eternal capital; in this fight we must unify forces for Jerusalem, and for the security of Israeli citizens. What is needed now is national unity.”
