Security Council, State Dept, Pentagon hit attack

The United Nations Security Council condemned the truck-ramming attack in Jerusalem that left four Israeli soldiers dead.

The statement tweeted late Sunday night by Sweden’s mission to the United Nations “condemned in the strongest terms the terrorist attack” in the eastern part of the city on Sunday and expressed condolences to the families of the victims and the government of Israel. Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the Security Council this month.

“The members of the Security Council reaffirmed that terrorism in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats to international peace and security,” the statement said, and that the council finds any acts of terrorism “criminal and unjustifiable, regardless of their motivation.”

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The U.S. State Department and the Pentagon condemned the truck-ramming attack. 

“There is absolutely no justification for these brutal and senseless attacks,” the State Department’s deputy spokesman, Mark Toner, said in a statement issued hours after the attack. “We condemn the glorification of terrorism now or at any time and call on all to send a clear message that terrorism must never be tolerated.”

The Pentagon’s press secretary, Peter Cook, condemned “in the strongest terms possible today’s terrorist attack that targeted Israel’s defense forces and express our deepest condolences to the victims.”