At Least Six Dead in An Attack on Synagogue in Jerusalem

At least four people who were praying in a synagogue in the neighborhood of Har Nof, an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood located in West Jerusalem, were killed during an attack, Tuesday, Nov. 18, according to a spokesman for the services of the Israeli rescue military radio.

According to Police , the two assailants entered the place of worship arm ed with an ax and a pistol. Presented as Palestinians in East Jerusalem, they were shot by the police. “We see this as a terrorist attack,” said Micky Rosenfeld, a spokesman for the police. Hamas and Islamic Jihad praised the attack.

This attack occurs in a context of heightened tensions in Israel , the West Bank and Jerusalem, where clashes between Israeli police and Palestinian protesters almost daily. Over the past month, five Israelis and foreign tourists were killed with knives and car ram by Palestinians. A half-dozen Palestinians were also killed, including the perpetrators of these attacks.

The assassination in July of a Palestinian teenager in retaliation for the abduction and murder of three Jewish teenagers in the West Bank is presented as the event that triggered this new round of tensions, fueled by conflict over access to Esplanade of the Mosques, called “Temple Mount” in the Jewish community.