16^th February 2015
It is with profound shock and sorrow that we learn of yet another lethal antisemitic attack in Europe.
Just after midnight on Sunday, 15^th February, Omar el-Hussein shot and killed 38 year old Dan Uzan, a volunteer who was standing guard outside a synagogue in Copen­ha­gen, while 80 members of the Jewish community cel­eb­rated a bar mitzvah inside. Dan Uzan was murdered because he was pro­tect­ing a Jewish place of worship.
The Aus­trali­an Jewish community stands in complete solid­ar­ity with the Jews of Denmark as we mourn the loss of Dan Uzan. May his memory be a blessing and may his death not be in vain. We wish long life to Dan’s family and friends. We also pray for the full recovery of the two police officers who were shot and injured in the attack while pro­tect­ing the synagogue.
Much like the terrorist attacks in Paris last month, the assailant in Copen­ha­gen first targeted a symbol of free speech, attacking a symposium hosted by the car­toon­ist, Lars Vilks, before turning his attention to the city’s Jewish community.
This pattern of murder and mayhem demon­strates that attacks against Jews, as Jews, are insep­ar­able from the assault on freedom and democracy. As conveyed by the Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt, “… when you attack the Jewish community, you attack our democracy.”
Islamist terror is not a response to par­tic­u­lar griev­ances, real or imagined, but rather a total­it­ari­an campaign by violent fanatics seeking world dom­in­a­tion and the destruc­tion of any social order built upon the values of the Enlight­en­ment.
This latest attack further under­scores the vul­ner­ab­il­ity of Jewish people even in advanced, western societies. It demon­strates once more that antisemitism is real and it is deadly.
We hope that all the people of Denmark will find strength in this difficult time and will emerge united and resilient to confront the scourge of Islamist terror which threatens the basic rights and freedoms of all of us.

Contact:
Peter Wertheim AM Executive Director
ph: 02 8353 8500 | m: 0408 160 904
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au