Jerusalem – Family Home Of Har Nof Synagogue Massacre Terrorist Sealed

Jerusalem – Eight months after slaughtering four rabbis praying in a Har Nor synagogue, as well as a Border Police officer attempting to save them, the government on Wednesday sealed the home of one of the two terrorists responsible for the Jerusalem attack that shook the nation.

During the early morning hours, the family home of Uday Abu Jamal, 22, located in east Jerusalem’s Jabel Mukaber neighborhood, was evacuated and then cemented shut by a coterie of government officers.

It remains unclear how many relatives of the killer lived in the residence, or why the home of his accomplice in the murders, Ghassan Abu Jamal, 32, was spared.

The move comes after an appeal from Abu Jamal’s family to spare the home was rejected by the High Court. It is expected that the residence will be razed in the coming months.

The attack took place on November 18, shortly after 7 a.m., when the cousins stormed the Kehillat Bnei Torah Synagogue, overlooking the hills of west Jerusalem, wielding axes, knives and a pistol, to attack its more than 30 congregants.

According to witnesses, the terrorists shouted, “Allahu Akbar!” before proceeding to kill and maim the victims.

The four rabbis killed included Aryeh Kupinsky, 43, Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, 68, Kalman Ze’ev Levine, 55, and Moshe Twersky, 59, all residents of Har Nof. Kupinsky, Levine and Twersky held dual US-Israeli citizenship after immigrating from America. Goldberg had come to Israel from Britain.

Both of the killers died in a gunfight after shooting dead Druse police officer Zidan Saif, 30, a married father of a then four-month-old daughter.

Less than 10 days after the massacre, the Interior Ministry said it would revoke the residency of Nadia Abu Jamal, the wife of one of the terrorists, and forfeit all of her future monetary and social benefits from the state.

“Everyone who is involved in terrorism needs to take into account the effects it could have on family members as well,” said Interior Minister Gilad Erdan of the decision.

However, after learning of the sealing on Wednesday, Meretz City Councilman Dr. Meir Margalit, who holds the east Jerusalem portfolio, condemned such collective punishment as unjust and immoral.

“In principal, my position is that this kind of collective punishment is not moral,” said Margalit by phone.

“We don’t know if the family even knew the intentions of the killer, and to punish all of the family is not moral, and is against international law.”

While Margalit said he would have no compunction about demolishing or sealing a home that was exclusively inhabited by the terrorist himself, he added that punishing his family is not befitting a democratic nation.

“If it’s a house where just the terrorist lived, I have no problem with this, but if a family lives there with small children and grandparents, it’s not fair to punish all of them for something one of their relatives did without their knowledge or consent,” he said.

“I expect the Jewish people to be more just, even in these extremes cases.”