CJP and JCRC condemn the horrific extremist and terrorist attacks in Israel and the West Bank.
A terrorist arson attack against Palestinians in the village of Duma left an infant, 18-month old Ali Saad Dawabsha, dead and his four-year-old sibling and parents badly injured. In a separate incident, six Israelis at Jerusalem’s gay pride festivities were stabbed and injured by a man police say was an ultra-Orthodox extremist who had been previously imprisoned – and recently released – for an attack on a similar gathering.
These most recent incidents horrify us, and they are symptoms of a troubling rise in Jewish extremism in Israel.
As Shabbat approaches and Israelis and Jews around the world soul-search about the causes and impacts of these awful attacks, we pray for the families and victims and for swift justice against the perpetrators of these crimes.
We share the sentiments of Israeli President Reuven Rivlin who yesterday said that it is not a time to succumb to “shock and anger. This is a time to join together” and seek peaceful solutions to the extremism and terror that plague our world.
