The Archbishop of Canterbury and a senior Muslim leader have co-signed a letter with the Chief Rabbi in today’s Times condemning the murder of five Israelis in a synagogue this week.

Archbishop Justin Welby, Sheik Ibrahim Mogra, the assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, and Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis wrote that “the appalling and brutal murders carried out in a synagogue in Jerusalem during morning prayers this week are to be condemned in the strongest possible terms.”

They said, “The desecration of the sacred, taking life in a house of prayer, is the absolute antithesis of faith and of what we stand for. This attack on people at prayer is yet another example from across the globe of violence in the name of religion, which undermines religious freedom.

“We appeal to the believers of all traditions to denounce such attacks wherever in our world they take place and to call for an end to religiously motivated violence.”