Netanyahu promises ‘harsh response’ to synagogue attack

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed to respond harshly, “with a heavy hand”, to the deadly Jerusalem synagogue attack by suspected Palestinians.

On Tuesday morning in Jerusalem, in an ultra-orthodox neighbourhood in West Jerusalem, Palestinians attacked Jews praying at a synagogue in Jerusalem, with guns, axes and knives, killing four people before being killed themselves in a shootout with Israeli police.

The attack took place shortly after dawn.

Pictures posted by an Israeli army spokesman showed a man in a Jewish prayer shawl lying dead in a pool of his own blood, with a butcher’s cleaver discarded on the floor beside overturned prayer tables.

Micky Rosenfeld, a police spokesman, said they were viewing this as a terrorist attack, as Israel’s ambulance service said at least eight people were seriously wounded in one of the deadliest attacks in the city in years.

Mosques in Gaza were reported to be calling out “congratulations” via their loudspeakers, as Islamist group Hamas praised the attacks with radio reports calling the attackers martyrs.

Sami Abu Zuhri, Hamas spokesman, called for continuous revenge on Israelis.

“Hamas calls for the continuation of revenge operations and stresses that the Israeli occupation bears responsibility for tension in Jerusalem,” Zuhri said.

But Netanyahu blamed the attack on Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian president, who he accused of inciting Palestinians towards violence.

“This is a direct result of incitement led by Hamas and Abu Mazen, incitement that the international community has been irresponsibly ignoring,” the Israeli prime minister said.

“We will respond with a heavy hand to the brutal murder of Jews who came to pray and were killed by lowly murderers.”

John Kerry, United States secretary of state, condemned the attack, demanding that Palestinian leadership take swift steps to halt incitement towards violence in Israel and Palestine.

“Innocent people who had come to worship died in the sanctuary of a synagogue,” Kerry said.

“They were hatcheted, hacked and murdered in that holy place in an act of pure terror and senseless brutality and murder.

“I call on Palestinians at every single level of leadership to condemn this in the most powerful terms, this violence has no place anywhere.”

Photo credit: Reuters