Peres pays condolence call to victims of Jerusalem attack
Peres pays condolence call to victims of Jerusalem attackOffice of Shimon Peres

Former President Shimon Peres on Sunday made a condolence visit to the families of the four Jews in Jerusalem brutally murdered by two Arab terrorists last Tuesday as they prayed in a Har Nof synagogue, in an attack that also claimed the life of a Druze police officer.

The victims were Rabbi Moshe Twersky, hy"d, 'Rosh Kollel' for the 'Torat Moshe' yeshiva; Rabbi Kalman Levine, hy"d; Aryeh Kupinsky, hy"d, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, hy"d, and Sergeant Major Zidan Seif.

"My grandfather, Tzvi Meltzer, was murdered in a synagogue by Nazis as he was wrapped in a prayer shawl just for being a Jew," related Peres. "Today too, our people are united under faith against all murder and terror. The memory of your loved ones will be blessed."

Peres noted that the four Jewish victims made aliyah (immigration) to Israel, three from the US and the fourth from the UK, "and they were a symbol of our history and the loss cannot be ignored or forgotten."

"So much suffering and yet so much value and so much trust in the Lord, in humankind, in the order of Moses saying that every person was born in the image of the Lord," continued Peres, saying G-d created not only Jews but also Druze and Bedouin, "and also Arabs."

Speaking about the Jewish victims, Peres used a rather odd choice of words, referencing Christian tradition, saying "their whole life they were busy with learning the gospel, deepening it, teaching it to children all their lives."

Peres was accompanied by Rabbi David Yosef, Sheikh Kablan of the Israeli Druze community, Ali Saeed of the Bedouin community and Abu Ghosh mayor Salim Jaber.

The victims' wish was "for a better relation of brotherhood" in mankind according to the former president.

Along the lines of Peres's interfaith call for "brotherhood," it is worth noting that just last Friday acid was thrown on the car of  Sheikh Samir Assi who serves as the Imam of Akko, after he held an interfaith meeting denouncing the attack. Police suspect Muslim extremists of being behind the attack.