2014 Jerusalem synagogue attack | |
---|---|
Native name | הפיגוע בבית הכנסת קהילת בני תורה |
Location | Har Nof, Jerusalem |
Coordinates | 31°47′09″N 35°10′31″E / 31.78583°N 35.17528°E |
Date | 18 November 2014 6:55 am (UTC+2) |
Attack type | Mass shooting, stabbing |
Weapons | Pistols, axe, knife |
Deaths | 6 (+2 attackers) |
Injured | 7 |
Assailants | Uday Abu Jamal Ghassan Abu Jamal |
On the morning of 18 November 2014, two Palestinian men from Jerusalem entered Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue, in the Har Nof neighborhood of Jerusalem, and attacked the praying congregants with axes, knives, and a gun. They killed four dual-nationality worshippers, and critically wounded a responding Druze Israeli police officer, who later died of his wounds. They also injured seven male worshippers,[1] one of whom never woke up from a coma and died 11 months later. The two attackers were then shot dead by the police.
Several initial reports claimed that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) had declared responsibility for the attack;[2][3][4][5] Other sources say declarations by PFLP militants were either confused or that the group itself disclaimed responsibility.[6][7][8] Israeli authorities stated that 'it seemed the men had acted alone'.[3]
It was the deadliest terror attack in Jerusalem since the Mercaz HaRav massacre in March 2008.[9][10][11] The attack was one of a number of violent attacks on Israelis in the summer and autumn of 2014 being called an intifada by some news sources, despite no official intifada being organized by a Palestinian group, as they were in the first and second intifadas.[12]
The UN Security Council condemned the "despicable terrorist attack" in the Jerusalem synagogue.[13]
Shaken
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).Conflicted reports emerged in the Palestinian media about a Palestinian terror group claiming responsibility for the deadly attack at a Jerusalem synagogue on Tuesday. A spokesman for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) stated that it was 'premature' to talk about his organization's responsibility for the attack he labeled as 'heroic'.
"Synagogue attack: Israel vows retribution, demolishes Palestinian homes" Archived 18 December 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Al-Araby, 19 November 2014: "It was initially reported that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) had claimed the attack, but the group later denied that, stating that they had merely supported those who carried it out. 'We bless the operation and the two young men who carried it out,' said Jamil Mizher, the leader of the PFLP, to al-Araby al-Jadeed. 'But we have not received any confirmation that it was planned by the PFLP, even though it was consistent with the history of the PFLP,' Mizher said.
the PFLP didn't explicitly claim responsibility for the atrocity at the synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood, it did laud the attack while describing the two assailants, cousins Ghassan and Odai Abu Jamal, as "PFLP comrades".