From Mdina to Jerusalem: How Malta Reacts to Deadly East Jerusalem Market Attack

Maltese Hearts Go Out to East Jerusalem as Gunmen Kill Five in Dawn Market Rampage

By Maria Pace, Hot Malta Correspondent

The bells of the Carmelite Church in Mdina had barely finished their 7 a.m. chime on Friday when news flashed across Maltese smartphones: five Israelis—four women and one man—lay dead in an east Jerusalem market, gunned down by Palestinian assailants. By the time commuters were sipping their first kafè fit-tazza at Valletta’s Bridge Bar, the small island nation was already wrestling with a familiar cocktail of empathy, political memory, and communal concern.

Malta is 2,000 kilometres away from the Damascus Gate checkpoint where the shooting erupted, yet the Mediterranean archipelago feels the tremor every time the Levant bleeds. Our grandparents still tell stories of 1948 Palestinian refugees who washed up on our docks aboard British navy vessels. Today, Gozitan olive-oil producers market “Peace Blend” bottles that fund replanting projects in the West Bank; a percentage of every crate sold at Arkadia supermarket goes to coexistence NGOs in Bethlehem. The attack, therefore, is not just another grim ticker on Reuters; it is a ripple in a relationship that Maltese civil society has cultivated for decades.

Inside the narrow limestone alleys of Sliema, the Maltese-Arabic Cultural Centre opened its doors an hour early. Director Dr. Amina Zahra, originally from Gaza but married to a Maltese architect from Żejtun, switched between Arabic and Maltese while briefing a dozen volunteers. “We are planning a joint blood drive with the Jewish Community of Malta for Sunday,” she said, voice cracking. “Blood has no passport.” Their poster, already circulating on Facebook groups such as “Malta Parents Network,” features the Maltese eight-point cross entwined with the Palestinian keffiyeh and the Israeli Magen David, captioned: “Nimxu flimkien—Walking Together.”

The political dimension is impossible to ignore. Foreign Minister Ian Borg issued a terse statement condemning “all forms of terror” and offered Maltese mediation expertise—an echo of Dom Mintoff’s 1970s shuttle diplomacy between Libya and Egypt. Opposition leader Bernard Grech called for a minute’s silence before the Euro 2025 qualifier against Israel scheduled for next month at Ta’ Qali, raising thorny questions about security and symbolism. Will the Israeli anthem be booed? Will Palestinian flags be confiscated? The Malta Football Association is bracing for an emergency meeting next Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Valletta’s Muslim community—mostly North African migrants who arrived via Lampedusa—gathered for Friday prayers at the Mariam Al-Batool Mosque. Imam Mohammed El-Sadi devoted his khutbah to the sanctity of life, quoting Qur’anic verses against murder and urging worshippers to donate to the victims’ families through the island’s Caritas office. “We felt the pain of Christchurch in 2019,” he told Hot Malta, referring to the terror attack on New Zealand Muslims. “Today we feel the pain of Jerusalem.”

Local tourism operators are nervously eyeing bookings. Jerusalem-born guide Yasmin Cohen runs boutique “Malta-to-the-Holy-Land” tours that attract dozens of Maltese pilgrims every Easter. Since the shooting, three groups have cancelled. “They’re scared, but I tell them Malta itself has known sieges,” she said over Ftira bread at Café du Brazil. “We are a nation of survivors; we should not let fear cancel compassion.”

Back in Għarb, Gozo, 73-year-old carpenter Nenu Tabone carved an olive-wood crescent and star alongside a Star of David, intending to send the piece to the bereaved families. “My father hid Jews during the war,” he said, sanding the wood that once grew on terraced hills reminiscent of Galilee. “Hate is a foreign import; we must export love instead.”

As dusk falls over the Grand Harbour, the illuminated bastions look almost like Jerusalem stone. Maltese fishermen light candles on the water—a sea-borne vigil that has honoured every distant tragedy from the Titanic to Beirut’s port blast. Tonight, five new flames bob gently, carrying the promise that even in the heart of the Mediterranean, the pain of Jerusalem is felt, shared, and answered with solidarity.