The lives of five men ended abruptly in Jerusalem on Tuesday, November 18, when two Palestinian men walked into a Jewish synagogue. Armed with a pistol, axes and meat cleavers, they yelled “God is Great!” in Arabic before murdering four rabbis. Three of them had dual citizenship in the US and Israel, while the other was a dual citizen of Britain and Israel. All four men were in the middle of their morning prayers when the attack occurred.
The terrorists continued their attack, which eventually led to a shootout with local police, who arrived on the scene moments after the first death. The attack resulted in the death of the two Palestinian terrorists, who were both shot down by local police. During the shootout, however, two officers were severely wounded and one was killed. Officer Zidan Saif, 30, died from his wounds, leaving behind a wife and 4-month-old son. The other victims of this attack, Rabbi Avraham Goldberg, 68, Rabbi Arye Kupinsky, 43, Rabbi Kalmen Levin, 55, and Rabbi Moshe Twersky, 60, left behind families as well; totaling four widows and 24 children left without fathers.
Shortly after the attack Palestinian officials condemned the incident. At the same time, Hamas and other Palestinian groups took pride in the actions of the two men. They celebrated in the streets of Jerusalem and claimed the act was a “natural response to Israeli crimes.” These “crimes” refer to the ongoing conflict of a holy site in Jerusalem.
The Jewish community refers to this site as Temple Mount, while the Palestinian community calls it the Holy Sanctuary. Both communities consider the site to be extremely important in their religious practices. However, the land is currently held by the Palestinians, who have built a Mosque on the property.
During the past few years, the Jewish community has pushed to get the Mosque torn down. They would like to see a Jewish temple similar to the one that stood there during the time of King David. The Jewish people have even gone so far as to visit the holy site and pray despite the Palestinian ownership. Naturally, the Palestinians are offended by these acts and have grown increasingly aggressive in retaliation.
The conflict and rebel actions of both groups escalated until June, when three Israeli teens and one Palestinian teen were murdered. These deaths were the turning point for both groups, and the conflict became religious war. According to the United Nations, the current deaths toll is over 2,000 Palestinians, and 72 Israelis and clearly it is only getting worse.
“Terrorism is attacking or acting violently against a group of people simply because they have different beliefs, and that is never okay,” said Taryn Randall, a History major.
“The terrorism happening in the Middle East has gone on for forever and won’t be solved if we don’t take action,” said Haley Moore, a biochemistry major. “But it isn’t the United States’ job to fix all of it alone. The people in these communities need to help, too.”
Later that day President Barack Obama told the press, “Too many Israelis have died too many Palestinians died. this kind of extremism threatens a spiral from which it’s hard to emerge.”
No action is being taken by the United States at this time. However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed that a strong response for the deaths would be taken by Israeli government officials.
Details of their action have no been disclosed, which begs the question, are officials taking this seriously? How many more Palestinians and Jews will die before action is taken?
