Victim of Jerusalem Synagogue Attack Was USC Alum
Video by Marc Sallinger
Two Palestinians armed with meat cleavers and a gun attacked a Jerusalem synagogue in the Har Nof area on Tuesday, causing five deaths and several injuries.
Four Israelis were killed. Three of them were also American citizens while the fourth man was a British-Israeli national. A policeman who was seriously injured succumbed to his wounds later.
Rabbi Cary William Levine, one of the victims, was a USC student, according to the Associated Press. Levine had lived in Israel since his 20s and taught at a seminary there. He attended USC, where he studied the Torah and the Talmud. Calls to USC regarding his graduation year were not immediately returned.
The alleged murderers, Ghassan Abu Jamal and Uday Abu Jamal, were shot dead by police right after a gun fight.
Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minster of Israel, said the terror attack is the result of a “blood libel” against Israeli Jews, and that Hamas, the Islamic Movement and the Palestinian Authority were guilty of hatred and incitement against the Jewish people. And although Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas had condemned the attack, it was not enough, according to the Jerusalem Post.
"Hamas calls for the continuation of revenge operations and stresses that the Israeli occupation bears responsibility for tension in Jerusalem," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said, according to The Jerusalem Post. In an interview with Al Jazeera International, Senior Hamas official Ghazi Hamad predicted that "there will be more revolution in Jerusalem, and more uprising."
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry denounced the assault as an "act of pure terror and senseless brutality and violence," according to CBC News.
The escalating tension between Israel and Palestine preceding the attack has led to anxiety and panic among residents of Jerusalem.
“We were told that armed terrorists broke into during services there, while our own services were just starting,” said Joshua Morrow, an American studying in Israel, in a Skype interview with ATVN.” I was really frightened. I was genuinely very frightened.”
