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We are horrified by reports from the San Diego area of a fatal shooting at a Chabad house as members of the community gathered to mark the end of Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom. The story is developing but we understand that at least one person is dead and several others, including children, were wounded.
The shooting comes six months to the day after the slaughter of eleven Jews at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh and is a further reminder that antisemitism is real and it is lethal. It also demonstrates the dangerous decline in tolerance and humanity that has made attacks on places of worship commonplace.
While the motivation of the killer is yet to be revealed, the plummeting standards of political debate and activism, which has seen constant attacks on the loyalty of American Jews, allusions to Jewish money and power corrupting public affairs, and the convergence of far-right and far-left antisemitism, must be closely scrutinised.
The periodic slayings of Jews at prayer cannot become accepted as a norm.
We offer our love and prayers to the local community.
Contact
Alex Ryvchin | Co-CEO
ph: 02 8353 8505 | m: 0478 297 245
e: [email protected] | www.ecaj.org.au
