Palestinians kill Israeli worshippers
Four rabbis and one police officer are reported dead and others eight injured in Israel after two armed Palestinian men attacked worshippers at a synagogue in West Jerusalem. The attackers were shot dead on the scene.
Israeli Prime Minister blames the attack on “incitement” by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Hamas militant group.
“The presidency condemns the attack on the Jewish worshippers in their place of prayer,” reads a statement issued by the office of President Abbas, “and condemns the killing of civilians no matter who is doing it.”
Three of the victims – Rabbis Moshe Twersky, 59, Arieh Kupinsky, 43, and Kalman Levine, 55 – had dual Israeli/US citizenship, and a fourth, Rabbi Avraham Goldberg, 68, had dual Israeli/UK citizenship.
“There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians,” said US President Barack Obama, condemning the attack.
At the time of press, the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades – the military wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine – has claimed responsibility for the act.
Criminal complaints over World Cup hosting
The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has recently lodged a criminal complaint against individuals connected to bids to host the next World Cups.
“There seem to be grounds for suspicion that, in isolated cases, international transfers of assets with connections to Switzerland took place, which merit examination by the criminal prosecution authorities,” reads a statement released by the Association.
President of the Association, Sepp Blatter, confirms to have acted on the advice of judge Hans-Joachim Eckert, who wrote a report that cleared Russia and Qatar to host the cup in 2018 and 2022, noting that “there is insufficient incriminating evidence to call into question the whole bidding process.”
The report has been widely criticized, but Blatter has resisted several calls for it to be made public.
“If Fifa were to publish the report, we would be violating our own association law, as well as state law,” said Blatter. “ [But] if we had anything to hide, we would hardly be taking this matter to the Office of the Attorney General.”
– Compiled by Alyssa Ottema