Family members knew nothing about plans for synagogue attack

MEE's Bethan Staton has spoken to the family of cousins Ghassan Abu Odai and Odai Abu Jamal in East Jerusalem, after the two suspected synagogue attackers were shot and killed by Israeli police.

"Family members said they knew nothing about the men’s plans before they carried out the attack. A close family member had spent twenty years imprisoned in Israeli jails, they reported.

“Netanyahu has to step back from Jerusalem and al Aqsa, and from the people that live in Jerusalem. That’s the solution. This is the feeling of every Muslim and Jerusalemite,” the mens’ cousin, Daoud Abu Jamal, said. “Someone has to stop Netanyahu, and stop the people that are killing Palestinians.

Ghassan and Oday, Daoud said, were young men thinking about their futures, but found themselves trapped by occupation policy in Jerusalem."