Attack in Jerusalem - Eight killed at Jerusalem school

Visit: http://yid-vid.com Eight people have been killed and nine wounded by a Palestinian gunman who infiltrated a Jewish seminary in West Jerusalem, Israeli officials say.

Witnesses said the gunman went into a crowded hall during dinner at the Mercaz Harav seminary in the city's Kiryat Moshe quarter and opened fire.

The assailant, who Israeli police said was a resident of East Jerusalem, was shot dead by an Israeli army officer.

The attack is the worst of its kind in Israel for a number of years.

The BBC's Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen says the Israeli government will be under immense pressure to respond - and it will, even though it is not known when and where precisely.

Terrorists were "trying to destroy the chances of peace", an Israeli government spokesman said. The shooting was also immediately condemned by the US, UN, UK and the Palestinian Authority.

The Palestinian Islamist group, Hamas, praised the attack, calling it "heroic", but did not claim responsibility. There was also celebratory gunfire in Gaza.

Later, the al-Manar satellite television station of the Lebanese Hezbollah movement reported that a previously unknown group called the "Jalil Freedom Battalions - the Martyrs of Imad Mughniyeh and Gaza" was behind the shooting.

Israeli security forces have been on high alert since Mughniyeh, a senior Hezbollah leader and military commander, was killed in a car bomb in Damascus on 12 February.

Hezbollah blamed Israel, which denied any involvement.

'Horrific'

Witnesses said the gunman entered the library at the Mercaz Harav seminary on Thursday evening, where about 80 students were gathered, and fired an AK-47 rifle for several minutes.

One of the students, Yitzhak Dadon, said he had shot the gunman twice before he was finally killed by an off-duty Israeli army officer, who had gone to the school after hearing gunfire.

"I saw the gunman and he fired a long burst in the air. But then he disappeared," he told the Reuters news agency.

"I saw him again when he approached the door of the library. I shot him twice in the head. He started to sway and then someone else with a rifle fired at him, and he died."

Another man told the BBC that there had been "terrible scenes" inside the building afterwards.

"The terrorists were shooting on us. We all hid under the cars," he said.

"When we got in... we saw young, 15-, 16-year-old guys lying on the floor with their Bibles in their hands - all dead on the floor because the terrorist guys went inside and killed those guys who were only here studying in Jerusalem."

Israeli police and military personnel later searched the building and the surrounding area in order to determine whether there had been a second assailant, but Jerusalem's police commander confirmed there had been only one man.

"He hid the weapon in a cardboard box," Aharon Franco told reporters.

Jerusalem Mayor Uri Lupolianski told Israeli Channel 2 television: "It's very sad tonight in Jerusalem - many people were killed in the heart of Jerusalem."

An Israeli foreign ministry spokesman said "terrorists are trying to destroy the chances of peace, but we will certainly continue peace talks" with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, who also condemned the attack.

"The president condemns all attacks that target civilians, whether they are Palestinian or Israeli," said a statement released by Mr Abbas' office.

US President George W Bush said he condemned "in the strongest possible terms the terrorist attack in Jerusalem that targeted innocent students", while UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband said the reports of the killings were "shocking".

"They are an arrow aimed at the heart of the peace process so recently revived," Mr Miliband said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also criticised the "deliberate killing and injuring of civilians" in what he called a "savage attack".

The Mercaz Harav seminary is a well-known centre for Jewish studies and most students are aged between 18 and 30. It is said to be associated with the leadership of the Jewish settler movement in the West Bank.

Hamas praise

In the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, gunmen fired into the air after news broke about the attack. A loudspeaker in Gaza City reportedly broadcast the message: "This is God's vengeance".

A spokesman for Hamas, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the group "blesses the heroic operation in Jerusalem, which was a natural reaction to the Zionist massacre".

Category:

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Tags:

• jewish
• israel
• border
• security
• hasidic
• arab
• muslim
• palistinian

[cflat28]

Wow. I can't believe how happy some people are that 8 children were murdered. So what if they're Jewish- they're just (innocent) children!

[zionic144nz]

Hamas are sick

[AhmadAmor]

AbuVital........You called me a racist ; I had to laugh , in fact still laughing !! So tell me ...ehum...The Talmud.....refers to gentiles ( goys ) as 'dogs' . It refers to rape of a gentile woman as permissible. It compares eating with gentiles as similar to eating with dogs. I could go on ... Your Zionist fanatacism even extends to Christians in Jerusalem . They are being displaced by American ASHKENAZIM ( who are not semitic ) and don't belong in Palestine.

[AbuAvital]

@AhmadAmor What does a racist Englishman like you know about peace? When sharia law takes over you will be the first to be killed.

[AhmadAmor]

@AbuAvital I'd vote for that ......NO Israel ! ....and I'm a Christian !! Zionist Megalomania is NOT the way forward and WILL be stopped !

[AbuAvital]

When the Arabs put down their weapons there will be peace. when the Jews put down their weapons there will be no Israel.

[hard2beat2006]

they deserve it

jewish terrorists killed alot of children and women in palestine under the help and protection of the american Corrupt governments.

jews are the killers of prophets. They are behind all the wars in the modern history

[marioatik]

open the atlas before 1948 and there you will see PALESTINE you ignornet little bitch

[freedomfighter84]

they deserve it

[stiven23]

i see....

still may God Or Allah or someone may do peace upon everyone even bad people need to see the light