By M. Bilal Kenasari
WASHINGTON
President Barack Obama strongly condemned a terrorist attack on worshippers at a synagogue in Jerusalem on Tuesday that killed four worshippers, including three U.S. citizens.
"There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians. The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence."
Israeli police said two Palestinian assailants opened fire on Jewish worshippers outside the synagogue in the Har Nof district, killing four victims.
Secretary of State John Kerry called the attack “senseless brutality and murder,” and demanded changes from Palestinian leadership. He said it “must begin to take serious steps to restrain any kind of incitement that comes from their language, from other people’s language, and exhibit the kind of leadership that is necessary to put this region on a different path."
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas released a statement condemning the attack but added that the "time has come to end [Israeli] occupation and all causes of tension and violence.”
His words are in contrast to Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu who said the Jerusalem attack was a result of “incitement led by Abbas, Hamas.”
But Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri characterized the attack as a “heroic operation” and “a natural response to Israel's ongoing crimes against the Al-Aqsa Mosque [complex] and the [occupied] West Bank, as well as the [seven-year] blockade of the Gaza Strip."
Tensions in the area increased further when Israeli authorities sealed access to East Jerusalem's Al-Asqa Mosque complex for several hours Oct. 30 after an extremist rabbi was shot and injured by a Palestinian in West Jerusalem.
www.aa.com.tr/en
