As Israelis mourned the latest murders of four rabbis praying in their synagogue and buried the dead, some Palestinians took to the streets to celebrate the killings.
The terrorists who allegedly carried out the murders were killed in a shootout with Israeli police. Two young men, identified in the Palestinian media as Ghassan Abu Jamal and his cousin Udayy, were reportedly members of the terror group the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).
PFLP members danced in the streets and waved flags, while a woman threw candies to a crowd of Arabs. Watch video of the celebrations here.
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas issued a terse statement condemning the attack. But Hamas welcomed it without claiming responsibility.
Hamas has flooded the Palestinian media and social media outlets with messages urging further attacks, citing the need to protect Jerusalem’s al Aqsa Mosque from Israeli desecration.
Israel’s government says that despite Abbas’ disapproval of the killings, it holds the Palestinian Authority responsible for the incitement to terror and for serving in a unity government with Hamas.
Palestinian Media Watch quotes Mahmoud Al-Habbash, an Abbas adviser and Sharia judge who in an interview earlier this month applauded October’s deadly riots in Jerusalem.
Al-Habbash said, “We kiss every forehead, every hand and even every foot that carries out Ribat [religious conflict over land claimed to be Islamic] at the al Aqsa Mosque and in Jerusalem … We are behind them. The leadership is with them.”
Three of the murdered rabbis were Americans with dual American and Israeli citizenship: Moshe Twersky, Aryeh Kupinsky and Cary William Levene.
The fourth rabbi, Avraham Goldberg, was a dual citizen of Britain and Israel.
Tuesday’s attack was the worst in Jerusalem since eight Jewish students were murdered at their yeshiva in 2008.
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