Gruesome Attack: Jerusalem 'Under Terrorist Assault'

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Israel is still reeling Wednesday after two Palestinian terrorists burst into a Jerusalem synagogue and hacked and shot to death four Israelis, including three Americans and a policeman on Tuesday.

Authorities are stepping up security. The gruesome attack during early morning prayers rocked the nation.

"We are in the midst of a terrorist assault focused on Jerusalem," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a national address Tuesday evening.

After the attack, Israel's public security minister announced he'd make it easier for Israelis to carry weapons for self-defense. he move is esigned to help Israelis protect themselves and cope with the growing fear that an attack could happen anytime, anywhere.

"This is my life; I live here. I can't, you know, I can't think about it a lot 'cause it will just stop me from going places, so I'm trying to put it behind me, sort of," a Jerusalemite name Liron told CBN News.

"The Jewish people have been going through this type of thing for thousands of years already. And our only real choice is to fight the darkness with light and choose life," Josh, who immigrated to Israel from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 10 years ago, told CBN News.

The two terrorists, who were affiliated with the Palestinian Front for the Liberation of Palestine, were from Jabel Mukaber, a neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem that gave them access to Israeli social services, the entire city, and the country.

Netanyahu said the terrorists were full of deep hatred and incitement against the Jewish people and their Jewish state. But he warned against Israelis taking the law into their own hands.

"We are in a lengthy war against abhorrent terrorism, which did not start today," Netanyahu told the nation. "Terrorism has followed us through all the years of the Zionist enterprise. We have always withstood it, and we will do so this time as well."

Following the attack, the Palestinian Authority issued contradictory messages.

Some analysts believe Secretary of State John Kerry pushed P.A. President Mahmoud Abbas into condemning the attack. His adviser, Sultan Abu al-Einein, praised the attack as a "heroic operation" and his political party, Fatah, announced they would hand out candy "in celebration of the Jerusalem operation."

It was the worst terror attack in Jerusalem since 2008.

Four rabbis were killed, three of them were dual American-Israeli citizens. A policeman later died from wounds sustained in the gun battle with the terrorists.

"Perhaps the saving grace was that because of his commitment to the land of Israel, commitment to being in Jerusalem, that he went the way he would have wanted to go, which is in prayer in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem," Jonathan Bein, brother-in-law of Rabbi Kalman Levin who was killed in the attack, told CBN News.

Yitzhak Heshing was one of the injured.

"Everyone, everywhere is in danger. Not just in Jerusalem, but everywhere," Heshing told CBN News. "I think that what is happening is a very crazy situation. I think the incitement on the street endangers everyone, both them [the Palestinians] and us. It's an extraordinary situation."

President Barack Obama condemned the attack, saying it was a tragedy for both the United States and Israel. Despite what many see as Palestinian incitement, he said, the United States wanted to help bring peace.

"The United States wants to work with all parties involved to make that a reality and to isolate the kinds of extremists that are bringing about this terrible carnage," Obama said.

In the meantime, Netanyahu said Israel would step up law enforcement and stiffer punishments for those who incite and increase security on the streets of Jerusalem.