Four Israeli worshipers were killed on Tuesday, November 18, in Jerusalem by Palestinian attackers. According to Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld, the attackers used guns and axes to carry out their violent act. All four victims had double citizenship. Three of them were U.S. citizens, while one of them had UK citizenship. The attack was carried out in an ultra-Orthodox community in Jerusalem, where it is said that many people who live in the west have homes.
The three American-Israeli citizens murdered were Aryel Kopinsky, 43 years old, Calman Levine, 50 years old, Moshe Twesky, 59 years old and Avraham Shmuel Goldberd, 58 years old. They were praying in a synagogue in the Har Nof neighborhood. Goldberg was a British-Israeli citizen, from Liverpool. Levine leaves behind a mourning family with five children and nine grandchildren. Twersky lived in Boston. His father, Isadore Twersky was a famous rabbi and philosopher, as well as a Hebrew literature professor at Harvard University. Twersky’s grandfather, Joseph Soloveitchik is considered the founding father of modern Orthodox philosophy.
The Jerusalem police spokesperson Micky Rosenfeld said that police officers were present at the scene soon after the attacks began. The attackers were killed on the spot. They had been identified as two cousins who lived in the eastern side of Jerusalem. Today’s incident from Jerusalem is considered one of the deadliest in recent years. In 2008, a man had killed eight seminary students in Jerusalem, with an automatic weapon. Soon after today’s incident, people gathered around the synagogue to mourn the four persons who lost their lives. A man tried to calm down the group of mourners: “When four great men, wonderful men, wise in Torah study are slaughtered while praying in public, there is no public grieving greater than that”.
The funerals for the four deceased men will be held on Tuesday afternoon. Mark Regev, the spokeperson for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the number of police officers will be increased, in order to maintain peace in the area. He said: “We’ve got to make sure there are no copycat attacks”. The Israeli Prime Minister’s office gathered top aides to a meeting on security later on Tuesday. The meeting was held in Jerusalem.