Jewish leaders yesterday demanded action from Germany to protect the community and face down resurgent right-wing extremism after a deadly anti-Semitic gun attack on the holy day of Yom Kippur underscored the rising threat of neo-Nazi violence.
At least two people were shot dead in the eastern city of Halle on Wednesday, with a synagogue among the targets.
The suspect, identified by German media as 27-year-old Stephan Balliet, filmed the assault and posted the video online.
The rampage was streamed live for 35 minutes on Twitch and eventually seen by about 2,200 people, the online platform said, in a chilling reminder of the mosque attack in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March which was also steamed online.
Police subsequently captured the Halle suspect after a gunbattle that left him injured.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Wednesday joined a solidarity vigil at Berlin’s main synagogue and firmly condemned the anti-Semitic rampage, but Jewish leaders said that words were not enough, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joining calls for German authorities to “act resolutely against the phenomenon of anti-Semitism.”
“It is scandalous that the synagogue in Halle is not protected by police on a holiday like Yom Kippur,” Central Council of Jews in Germany president Josef Schuster said. “This negligence has now been bitterly repaid.”
“We need action not words,” said World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder as he called for round-the-clock security for Jewish sites. “We also need immediately to launch a unified front against neo-Nazi and other extremist groups, which threaten our well-being. The fact that, 75 years after the Holocaust, such groups are gaining influence in Germany speaks volumes.”
The gunman filmed himself launching into a diatribe against women and Jews in a 35-minute video before carrying out the attack.
The video’s authenticity had been confirmed by the SITE Intelligence Group, but not by police.
The gunman published an anti-Semitic “manifesto” online more than a week ago, SITE director Rita Katz said, adding that the document showed pictures of the weapons and ammunition he used.
In the video, he was seen trying to force open the synagogue door before shooting dead a female passerby. He then tried unsuccessfully to blast open the gate of the Jewish cemetery with explosives.
The man was later seen shooting at a patron of a kebab shop about 600m away from the synagogue.
Jewish community leader Max Privorotzki, who was in the Halle synagogue, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung of the harrowing minutes as the site came under assault.
“We saw through the camera of our synagogue that a heavily armed perpetrator wearing a steel helmet and rifle was trying to shoot open our door,” Privorotzki said.
Between 70 and 80 people were in the synagogue then, he said.
“We barricaded our doors from inside and waited for the police,” he added. “In between, we carried on with our service.”
Among those in the synagogue were 10 Americans, as well as several Israelis, who were in Halle especially to join the small local Jewish population in celebrating Yom Kippur.
“We’ve made it out with our lives, in health and amazing spirits,” wrote Rebecca Blady, a Jewish-American community leader, who was in the synagogue.
The owner of the kebab shop, Rifat Tekin, described the gunman as “calm like a professional.”
“Maybe he has done this many times. Like me making a kebab, he’s doing this — like a professional,” he said.
Anti-terrorist prosecutors confirmed that they were taking over the probe given “the particular importance of the case” which involved “violent acts that affect the domestic security of the Federal Republic of Germany.”
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese