“Look, Palestinian youth in Jerusalem, they don’t just wake up one morning and grab a knife and say, ‘I want to kill the first Israeli that I see,’” said Khalid Maqdesi, spokesperson and member of the PFLP’s Central Committee. “This is the result of daily oppression that Palestinians are facing every hour, every minute of their life. … They’re going to resist and that’s how we read this operation.”
Two men who were reportedly members of the PFLP’s armed wing, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, attacked the synagogue during morning prayers with meat cleavers and a gun Tuesday.
“This synagogue is an institution we don’t look at it from a religious perspective. This institution was built on confiscated Palestinian land,” Maqdesi said. “Settlers and soldiers are legitimate targets as far as the PFLP is concerned..."
The synagogue is just minutes away from a former Palestinian village, now remembered as the site of the “Deir Yassin massacre.” An Israeli offensive in 1948 killed more than 100 of the village’s estimated 400 residents. The massacre happened during a time of Palestinian unity and is remembered as a turning point in the conflict. It is not known if the attackers were aware of the synagogue’s history.
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