Penny Wong condemns terrorist attack

Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong has condemned last night’s horrific terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

It comes as two of the seven people shot and killed in the shooting attack in the Neve Ya’akov neighbourhood were named on Saturday as couple Eli and Natali Mizrahi.

Eli’s father, Shimon, said the pair had gone outside to try and help those who had been shot, and were killed by the terrorist at point-blank range.

Eli, 48, and 45-year-old Natali had been married for just two years.

“We were in the middle of our meal, and there were several shots and my son jumped up. We yelled at him, ‘Don’t go anywhere,’” Shimon said.

“It seems that he was speaking with the terrorist, who pulled out a gun and killed him. [Eli] and his wife were murdered,” Shimon said. ‘[The terrorist] was standing next to his car and he shot them. He got into the car and fled.”

The other five victims killed when the terrorist opened fire on Friday evening were not immediately named.

At least three others were wounded — Hadassah’s Mount Scopus Hospital said Saturday morning that a 15-year-old boy injured in the attack was now fully conscious and his condition defined as moderate.

However, a 24-year-old remained sedated on a ventilator. His condition was serious but stable. In addition, a 60-year-woman was also in moderate condition.

“Australia unequivocally condemns the horrific terrorist attack that claimed the lives of at least seven worshippers in Jerusalem on Friday evening,” Wong said in a statement.

“Terrorism and violence against civilians can never be justified. That such a cowardly and callous attack occurred on a day where we remember the atrocities of the Holocaust is utterly reprehensible.

Our thoughts are with the victims’ families, friends, and the Jewish community.”

Israeli Police said on Saturday that 42 people were arrested in connection with the attack, many of them relatives or acquaintances of the terrorist, Alqam Khayri, 21, a resident of East Jerusalem with no prior terror-related offences.

Palestinian media said the gunman’s father was among those summoned by police for questioning.

According to police, Khayri arrived by car at 8:13 p.m. at a synagogue in the East Jerusalem neighbourhood and opened fire at people outside the building and other passersby.

He is believed to have waited outside the synagogue and opened fire on worshipers as they walked out.

He then fled the scene by car toward the Palestinian neighbourhood of Beit Hanina — several hundred meters away — where, about five minutes later, he encountered officers who were called to the scene.

Police said Khayri was shot dead after he exited the car and opened fire on the officers while trying to escape on foot.

A handgun used in the attack was seized.

Security officials told the Walla news site on Saturday that Khayri had shown relatively advanced shooting skills during the attack, and an investigation was underway to examine whether he had received weapons training, and if others had therefore known about the attack in advance.

Speaking to reporters on Friday, police commissioner Kobi Shabtai said the attack was one of the worst Israel had seen in years.

“The terrorist shot at everyone he encountered. He got out of the car and began a murderous rampage with a handgun,” Shabtai said.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking after visiting the scene, called the attack “one of the most severe we have known in years.”

“Our hearts are with the families. I commend the police officers who took action so quickly,” Netanyahu said. “We must act with determination and composure. I call on people not to take the law into their own hands.”

He said the cabinet would convene later on Saturday, adding, “We have decided on several immediate steps that will begin tonight.”

Celebrations were held by some in the Gaza Strip and in several Palestinian cities in the West Bank following the deadly attack.

With seven killed, the shooting in Jerusalem was the deadliest terror attack since 2011, when terrorists crossed into Israel from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, killing eight Israelis. It was the deadliest Palestinian terror attack since 2008, when a gunman from East Jerusalem killed eight Israeli students at the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in the capital.

Friday’s deadly attack came following days of violence in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Tensions have increased dramatically since Thursday morning, when an Israel Defence Forces raid in the West Bank against a terrorist cell left nine Palestinians dead — most of them gunmen and members of the cell, though at least one civilian was also killed.

Hamas praised Friday’s attack as a response to Thursday’s IDF operation, but no terror group took responsibility for it.

WITH TIMES OF ISRAEL, AFP