Masked Palestinians standing in front of a poster of Ghassan and Uday Abu Jamal celebrate their attack on a Jerusalem synagogue
Two Palestinians armed with a meat cleaver and a gun killed four rabbis in a Jerusalem synagogue before being shot dead by police. Israeli police said on Tuesday that three of the people killed by Palestinian attackers in a Jerusalem synagogue were dual U.S.-Israeli nationals and the fourth man held British and Israeli citizenship.
The three U.S.-born Israelis were identified by police as Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kopinsky and Calman Levine, and the British-Israeli man was named as Avraham Shmuel Goldberg.
Eyewitness Yaakov Amos was praying in the synagogue at the time of the attack.
A bloodstained prayer book at the synagogue (Photo: GPO)
“During the prayers, I heard shots and saw a worshiper wearing tefillin lying on the floor. The bastard passed me from the right while shouting “Allahu Akbar” and firing indiscriminately. Three people fell immediately, and I saw him keep on massacring people.” Amos said that, “one of the terrorists did not waste bullets and aimed directly at people. He fired and then looked at me, and chose people closer to him, shooting them at point blank range.”
Yosef Paaternak said “I looked up and saw someone shooting people at point-blank range. Then someone came in with what looked like a butcher’s knife and he went wild,”
Yossi Barzani, another worshipers in the synagogue, said, ” In the middle of prayers two terrorists entered shouting “Allahu akbar’. The synagogue was in panic, and I tried to flee. At a certain stage, one the terrorists approached me with a knife, and there was a chair and table between us. I drew back and ran from him and fled outside. In those moments, I asked God to save me. My prayer shawl got caught. I left it there and escaped. On the way out, I saw terrible sights and bodies.”
Ya’akov Amos, who was inside the synagogue and witnessed the attack, described how he saw one of the gunmen at point-blank range: ‘The first thing I recall of the incident is seeing a man close to me bleeding through his prayer shawl. ‘Moments later the terrorist moved to within a metre of me then started shooting in the other direction. One, two, three, bang, bang, bang. I immediately hit the ground and tried to protect myself with a prayer stand. I was completely in shock. It all happened in a matter of moments. He kept screaming ‘Allah hu’Akbar’. ‘I didn’t see his face, but through the gap in the stand I saw him shooting from almost point blank range. I then stood up and threw the stand in his direction and simply ran for my life. The man was working his way round to me, so I just ran. ‘I ran outside with the shooting continuing in the background and screamed at people ‘they’re shooting us… call the police!’ There were 25 to 30 people praying there. What a shock. It would seem that I know one of the men that was murdered. ‘I need to think how God protects us. I got to my house ([nearby] in hysterics. It’s a terrible feeling, but we won’t give in. We will continue to pray. They’re big heroes killing people from behind.’
Ofer, whose brother was wounded in the attack, said his brother had been struck in the head by an axe and was undergoing surgery. “We all love him,” said Ofer. “He is an outstanding person; he loves to help people and would never take a shekel from anyone. We hope that my brother will come out of this and keep on teaching and being a righteous family man. My brother was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”