A British Jew was one of the victims killed in the terrorist attack on a Jerusalem synagogue this morning which left four people dead.
Rabbi Abraham Goldberg, a 68-year-old great-grandfather, was originally from Liverpool. According to a family member, he moved to Golders Green to work, then made aliyah with his family in the early 1990s. The Rabbi leaves a widow and six children, as well as many grandchildren and great grandchildren.
Tehila, a woman in her 20s, saw the attack unfold from her window.
She told Tazpit News Agency: "I was asleep and heard many people screaming. I jumped out of bed and saw policemen, some not even wearing uniforms, running around in what looked like a crazy way. I also saw some injured people. One was full of blood."
"Afterwards, all the police forces came and I saw what sounded like a firefight. The police yelled at us to go inside and close the windows, since they hadn’t yet captured the terrorists."
Two Arab men armed with a gun, butchers knives and an axe, attacked worshipers praying the morning prayers in the synagogue in Har Nof. The men screamed "Allahu Akbar" upon entry, and proceeded to stab and shoot the congregants.
Traffic police were the first to arrive on the scene, and entered into a firefight with the terrorists. The terrorists were killed. One policeman was critically wounded in the exchange.
Yehuda Grossbard, an eyewitness, told Tazpit News Agency: "My wife heard shots…I ran downstairs, and saw people running out of the synagogue, some were covered in blood. I went next to the synagogue and I heard gunshots, I saw someone outside whose head was full of blood. Then I heard more shots, and that’s when the police came. They told people to get on the ground, and then the terrorists jumped out from the stairs and they shot them there."
Four people were murdered in the attack. Eight people were injured. Four are in critical condition, two are moderately injured, and two sustained minor wounds. They were rushed to Hadassah Ein Kerem and Shaarei Tzedek hospitals.
"The images I saw inside the synagogue reminded me of images from the Holocaust - Jews wrapped in talitot (prayer shawls) and tefilin (phylacteries) dying in pools of their own blood on the floor of the synagogue," said ZAKA Chairman Yehudi Meshi Zahav.
A woman at the scene told Tazpit News Agency: "This situation is not normal…we feel like we have no security. This situation is surreal."
Tehila added, "It's an hour later, and we are still shivering…The synagogue is a central one, it has a large congregation. You never dream something like this could happen in Har Nof."
Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri praised the attack, calling for more "revenge operations". Other Hamas media claimed this attack was a response for the "execution" of Youssef Al-Roumani. Roumani was the Egged bus driver whose hanging was ruled a suicide. A spokesman for Fatah, the party of Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, said that the attack was "a natural consequence of the crimes of Israel".
American Secretary of State John Kerry called for the Palestinian leadership's incitement to be halted immediately, while Prime Minister David Cameron said he was “appalled by today's horrific attack”.
Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said: “I am horrified and disgusted at the slaughter of innocent people in a synagogue. This is an affront to all faiths.
"To be brutally murdered when engaging in the sacred act of prayer is a despicable crime. This is the very antithesis of what we as Jews pray and yearn for on a daily basis.
"The victims, during morning prayers, would have been beseeching the Almighty to ‘make peace upon us all’. And it is with these words on their lips that they were killed.
"This premeditated act of terror, deliberately targeting Jews in a synagogue, is an attack on Jewish people and the Jewish faith.
"This reminds us that it could have been any one of us at prayers this morning, in Israel or elsewhere.
"We mourn the loss of four innocent lives. Our prayers are with them and their families at this difficult time.
"All of us with family, friends and loved ones in Israel will be particularly horrified by this act of brutality. We must continue to pray for peace and to do everything possible to hasten its arrival.”
Vivian Wineman, president of the Board of Deputies and chair of the JLC’s Council of Membership, said: “We ask all actors to step back from the abyss of violence and to take steps towards ending the current bloodshed. We need leadership on all sides to bring peace, security, prosperity and equality to Israelis and Palestinians.”
The Board and the JLC also said in a statement: “The attack comes during a period of heightened tension in Jerusalem, exacerbated by the incessant incitement not just by Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but also the Palestinian Authority and its President Mahmoud Abbas.
“Mr Abbas’s condemnation of the attack is ultimately an empty one if the incitement continues. We urge the international community to call on Abbas to end this dangerous provocation before further bloodshed occurs.”
