European leaders and diplomats condemned a terror attack on Monday that killed six people in Jerusalem, denouncing the violence and urging a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while the European Union used the occasion to press Israel to halt fighting in Gaza.
European Union spokesman Anouar El Anouni said the attack shows the need for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, which was started on October 7, 2023, when the Palestinian terror group Hamas led a devastating invasion of Israel.
“We condemn this attack, as we condemn all loss of lives,” El Anouni said. “We call for de-escalation, and this shows how necessary and critical a ceasefire is.”
“Civilians on both sides, both Palestinians and Israelis, have suffered for far too long and far too much,” he said. “And this must end now, and it is high time to break this cycle of violence.”
The EU’s envoy to Israel, Michael Mann, said on X he “strongly condemn[s]” the attack, asserting that “Terrorism and violence against civilians are never justified.”
In France, President Emmanuel Macron “strongly condemned the terrorist attack,” and offered condolences to the families of the victims.
“The spiral of violence must come to an end. Only a political solution will bring back peace and stability for all in the region,” he wrote in a message to X that was posted in French, English, and Hebrew.
Two Palestinian terrorists from the West Bank opened fire on commuters at the Ramot Junction. They seriously injured six more people, among a number of others, before they were shot dead themselves by an off-duty soldier and an armed civilian.
Speaking at a press conference alongside his Hungarian counterpart in Budapest, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar cited the shooting as evidence for the need to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state under the Palestinian Authority.
Macron has spearheaded a recent push for countries to recognize a Palestinian state later this month at the UN General Assembly, leading to tensions with Jerusalem, which reportedly turned down a requested visit to the country by the French president.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul described the attack as “cowardly.”
“My thoughts are with the families of the victims. I hope those injured make a quick recovery,” he said.
British ambassador to Israel Simon Walters called the attack “abhorrent” in a post on X, extending his “deepest condolences” to the families of those killed and injured, adding that “The cycle of violence must end.”
The Palestinian Authority presidency issued a rare statement of condemnation that only indirectly referenced the attack in Jerusalem.
“The presidency affirms its stance in rejecting and condemning any harm to Palestinian and Israeli civilians, and rejects all forms of violence, regardless of their source,” it said.
“Security and stability will not be achieved without an end to the occupation,” and that the realization of the Palestinian people’s rights in an independent state “is the sole guarantee for ending the cycle of violence in the region,” PA President Mahmoud Abbas’s office added.
The United Arab Emirates condemned “in the strongest terms” the shooting attack, said a statement from Abu Dhabi’s Foreign Ministry.
The statement reiterated the UAE’s “permanent rejection of all forms of violence and terrorism aimed at undermining security and stability,” and sent “sincere condolences” to “the families of the victims, and to the State of Israel and its people.”
Jerusalem and Abu Dhabi normalized ties in the 2020 United States-brokered Abraham Accords, though Abu Dhabi has recently warned that those ties may be threatened amid reports Israel is weighing West Bank annexation in response to moves by Western countries to recognize a Palestinian state.
The six victims of the attack were named as Levi Yitzhak Pash, 57, Yaakov Pinto, 25, Yisrael Matzner, 28, Rabbi Yosef David, 43, Rabbi Mordechai Steintzag, 79, and Sarah Mendelson, 60.