On Sunday 8 January, Europeans were quick to condemn the attack the same day by a lorry being driven into a group of soldiers gathered on the Armon Hanatziv promenade in West Jerusalem. The attack appears to have been deliberate and claimed four lives. In addition, 15 soldiers are said to have been wounded and the lorry driver, reportedly a Palestinian from East Jerusalem, killed.
"The EU condemns the murder of these four young Israelis, as well as any praise or incitement for terrorist acts", the spokesperson for the European External Action Service stated in a press release. "There can be no justification for such a crime", the spokesperson added, saying that the EU would continue to work with those who seek peace and denounce those who pursue violence and terror.
The secretary general of the Council of Europe, Thorbjørn Jagland, stated in a press release that he deplored this "coldblooded attack". He said that following the same type of attack in Nice in July and in Berlin in December, driving a lorry into a crowd seemed the "latest cruel method in [the] arsenal of extremist killers".
European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy Johannes Hahn and European Parliament President Martin Schulz also condemned the attack on Twitter. "We must join forces at international level to fight terrorism, no matter where and by whom it is used to destroy lives and attack fundamental values", Hahn said. (Original version in French by Camille-Cerise Gessant)