September 9, 2025
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A morning rush hour in Jerusalem turned into carnage when two Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank opened fire at a busy bus stop. In less than a minute, six Israelis were murdered and more than a dozen wounded. The attackers sprayed bullets at bus passengers and pedestrians before being killed by an off-duty soldier and armed civilians. Witnesses described chaos as people ran into traffic on Sept. 8, 2025, shielding children with their bodies and pulling the injured into buses.
Among the victims was a recent immigrant from Spain, killed as his new life in Israel was beginning. Others included parents on their way to work, students and elderly commuters. The Israeli Arab bus driver also was among those shot at during the attack. Families now face funerals as their loved ones were abruptly stolen from them. “There was gunfire beyond anything imaginable,” survivor Malka Cohen recalled. “I can’t believe I’m standing here. Indescribable gunfire.” That same morning, Hamas terrorists attacked an army camp, killing four Israeli soldiers.
The Victims: On Their Way to Work and School
Incitement and Praise: “Kill Jews one by one”
Hamas immediately praised the attackers and called the innocent Israeli civilian victims “soldiers” and “Zionist terrorists.” The Iran-backed terror group praised the “heroic operation.” Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas issued a soft condemnation, but the X account affiliated with the Fatah organization led by Abbas also praised the attack as a “heroic operation.” In a grotesque social media post, the Palestinian nationalist political party posted a graphic picture of a murdered Israeli civilian with blood pouring from his head with the caption: “A very good morning.”
A senior Palestinian Authority religious judge delivered a sermon two weeks earlier on the government’s official TV channel urging Palestinians to kill Jews: “O Allah, grant us victory over the infidels. Allah, kill them one by one, and do not leave even one.” Another religious leader in June advocated the same message: “O Allah strike the thieving Jews, kill them one by one, and do not leave even one.” The clerics are paid by the PA Ministry of Religion. Journalists and clerics close to the Qatari government also continue to glorify Hamas leaders and praise the Oct. 7 attacks as a model for raising children. An Israeli airstrike on Sept. 9 targeted top Hamas leaders based in Qatar who Israeli officials stated were directly responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre.
Terrorism Continues in Israel and America: Shared Threats
The Jerusalem shooting follows a century-long pattern of attacks on Jews. In 1929, Arab rioters massacred 67 Jews in Hebron, destroying a community that had lived there for centuries. In the 1970s, Palestinian terror groups pioneered airplane hijackings, deliberately endangering civilian lives to gain international attention and secure prisoner releases from European and Arab nations. Now, the EU is using the Jerusalem terror attack to call on Israel to stop its war in Gaza before destroying Hamas.
Terrorism is the “intentional use of, or threat to use violence against civilians or against civilian targets, in order to attain political aims,” as defined by terrorism expert Boaz Ganor.
Among the most notorious Palestinian terror attacks during that era were the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968 by Palestinian-Jordanian Sirhan Sirhan who protested RFK’s support of Israel in its war for survival the year before, the murder of 11 Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics and the 1985 killing of American tourist Leon Klinghoffer during the hijacking of a cruise ship, because he was a Jew.
Anti-Israel, Anti-America Rhetoric: “Neutralize Americans”
The same messages that fuel terror in the Middle East are also echoed in America – spreading the ideology beyond the region. Anti-America and anti-Israel activists have promoted actions against U.S. institutions and amplified slogans at rallies.
At the recent People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit – an event affiliated with a Palestinian terror group – speakers spewed anti-American and anti-Israel hate. Presenters explicitly invoked calls to “Globalize the Intifada” – a slogan used by terror groups to justify violent attacks against Jews. One participant went further, declaring that Israelis and their allies in places including Tel Aviv, Washington and Europe are “criminals” who “need to be taken out and neutralized.” U.S. Rep. Rashida Tlaib also spoke at the event and a university student promoted “destroying the idea of America because it is an evil country.”
From Incitement to Murder on U.S. Soil: “Globalize the Intifada”
Calls to “Globalize the Intifada” likely contributed to the murder of an American Jew and Israeli Christian outside the Capital Jewish Museum and the brutal firebombing of a parade in Boulder, CO, killing a Holocaust survivor. These murderous attacks are happening on American soil and have raised alarms bells in the Jewish community – a warning sign that should concern all Americans.
Only days before the Washington attack, a senior Hamas leader stated, “The time has come for everyone to take action. Everyone who can bear arms anywhere in the world must act. Spare no IED, bullet, knife or stone.” Progressive American influencer Hasan Piker hosted a 20,000-person live stream with an Australian guest who constantly urged Americans to randomly kill Israelis: “Weapons in America can be used very effectively.” Piker also spoke at the Detroit conference, calling for an “end to Zionism.”
9/11 Anniversary: America and Israel Face Common Enemies
The timing of the Jerusalem terror attack took place days before the anniversary of the Sep. 11, 2001, attacks in NYC, Pennsylvania and Washington, DC, when al-Qaeda terrorists killed nearly 3,000 innocent people. Al-Qaeda leaders repeatedly framed their campaign against the U.S., in part, for American support of Israel. An Al-Qaeda leader recently threatened the U.S. with an imminent 9/11-style attack.
This incitement is not confined to the Middle East. Echoes of the same rhetoric have surfaced in America, where conspiracy theories about 9/11 and claims that Jews and Christians are eternal enemies are voiced by extremist clerics in some mosques. An Atlanta imam recently declared that “America’s Judeo-Christian thinking will be replaced by Islam.”
As Americans prepared to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11, Israelis were burying teachers, students and grandparents gunned down at a bus stop. Jews around the world also are preparing to mark the two-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 massacres. The Jerusalem gunmen deliberately targeted civilians to create fear and advance a political cause, just like the 9/11 hijackers and 10/7 terrorists – two events linked by the use of terror against innocent people.
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This content is developed by The Focus Project in partnership with MERCAZ USA. The Focus Project distributes weekly news and talking points on timely issues concerning Israel and the Jewish people, including antisemitism, anti-Zionism and the delegitimization of Israel. It represents a consensus view across a spectrum of major American Jewish organizations. MERCAZ USA recognizes and respects the diversity of views on these issues among its readers and the community at large.