Europe isn’t progressive and tolerant.
Via JPost
While police in Belgium are hunting for a gunman who killed an Israeli couple a French woman, and a receptionist at the Jewish museum in Brussels on Saturday, Jewish groups from around the world have leveled harsh critiques at European leaders.
Issuing calls for an overhaul of how issues of anti-Semitism are dealt with in the European Union, these leaders believe that not enough is currently being done to combat a rising tide of hate, which has led some to question the continued viability of continental Jewish life.
In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu , strongly condemned the Brussels killings in a statement from his office. They were, he said, “the result of endless incitement against the Jews and their state”. He offered Israeli cooperation in the Belgian investigation.
Security camera footage of the killer, who authorities believe acted alone, was released by police on Sunday afternoon. In the video, the assailant can be seen carrying a large bag and wearing a baseball cap as he walks up to the entrance of the museum and arms himself with a rifle. After discharging his weapon he calmly walks away.
Belgium has raised its terror alert to its highest level.
Less than a day after the Brussels attack, two Jews were beaten outside of a synagogue in a Paris suburb, prompting authorities in France to “”immediately secure sites linked to the Jewish religion or Jewish culture,” Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve said.
Pope Francis, in Tel Aviv on Sunday, condemned the attack in Brussels, where about half of Belgium’s 42,000-strong Jewish community lives.
“With a deeply saddened heart, I think of all of those who lost their lives in yesterday’s savage attack in Brussels,” he said.
“In renewing my deep sorrow for this criminal act of anti-Semitic hatred, I commend to our merciful God the victims and pray for the healing of those wounded.”