![\"Jerusalem](\"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/Terror.jpg\")
<\/a>Jerusalem Synagogue Massacre<\/p><\/div>
\nFor the residents of Jerusalem\u2019s Har Nof neighbourhood, the day started like many others. Wrapped up snugly against the winter chill, early mornings mean a frantic scurrying along the teeming pavements as men, women and little ones make their way to work or school. And, of course, to synagogue for Schacharit or morning prayers. <\/p>\n
About 25 worshippers were praying at the Kehilat Bnei Torah Synagogue and Yeshiva when the terrorists struck. It was all over in under 10 minutes. But those few minutes shattered the lives of many for ever. <\/p>\n
At 7:01 two Palestinian cousins from East Jerusalem snuck into the synagogue, armed with a gun and meat cleavers. Those they came to slaughter were unarmed, had in all probability never been armed in their lives. They chose to struck when their prey would be under their prayer shawls, unaware of the ensuing danger and thus at their most vulnerable. By 7:08 the attack was over. And police had killed both terrorists. But the path of carnage they left in their wake speaks of an illogical hate and rage, poured out in a place of worship.<\/p>\n
Four Israelis were murdered. Eight, including two policemen, were wounded. The images from the scene of the attack are heart-breaking. Some of the men died under their prayer shawls. Prayer tables hastily overturned as worshippers tried to flee the deadly attack. Tefillin scattered across the floors. Blood soaking through the pages of prayer books. A pair of spectacles trampled in the chaos. And the heaps of discarded prayer shawls gleaming white against the trails of blood. The violence is unspeakable. The intent unthinkable. <\/p>\n
Because war should be waged against armed men. And yes, sometimes innocents are hurt in the process. But seeking out the innocents, the vulnerable, the defenceless. For the simple reason of preying on those specific traits. For such an act, humanity still has to coin a word.<\/p>\n
As Jerusalem reels from the shock of such viciousness, the family of the two terrorists responsible for the attack, have started their own mourning process. And hundreds have joined them. The family says that the attack came out of nowhere, that they never expected the two cousins to do such a thing. They are described as \u201cquiet youth; uninvolved in activism of politics and not members of an organization (Hamas etc.)\u201d Perhaps tempers flared about tensions over the Temple Mount, speculates another family member. Or they simply snapped over the suicide of a Palestinian man the previous day, which the cousins believed to be a murder that Jews committed. A long list of possible reasons. Yet no blame, no sense of the slightest disapproval for what their family members did, for the carnage and heart-break they caused. <\/p>\n
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the attack. But not too convincingly. And his is a lone voice amongst Palestinian leadership. Islamic and left-wing groups celebrated the attack outright. And Hamas called it \u201ca quality development in fighting the occupation. We highly value the heroism of its operatives.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a world that\u2019s seemingly gone mad, where grief has once again settled over Jerusalem, I pray that the God Who is the Source of all our comfort, our consolation and encouragement will comfort Israel (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). May the God Who promises to comfort us in our every trouble, calamity and affliction, comfort you as you mourn your sons, o Zion. <\/p>\n
<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Lilly Cohen For the residents of Jerusalem\u2019s Har Nof neighbourhood, the day started like many others. Wrapped up snugly against the winter chill, early mornings mean a frantic scurrying along the teeming pavements as men, women and little ones make their way to work or school. And, of course, to synagogue for Schacharit or more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2482,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[527],"tags":[443,135,433,125,444,437,259],"class_list":{"0":"post-2481","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-terrorism","8":"tag-har-nof-attack","9":"tag-israel-news","10":"tag-jerusalem-terror","11":"tag-news-from-jerusalem","12":"tag-palestinian-terrorist","13":"tag-stabbing","14":"tag-terrorism","15":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2481"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2483,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2481\/revisions\/2483"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2482"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thejerusalemgiftshop.com\/israelnews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}