The President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany has made serious allegations against the police after the attack on the Jewish community in Halle an der Saale. "The fact that the synagogue in Halle was not protected by the police on a holiday like Yom Kippur is scandalous," said central council president Josef Schuster in the Würzburg synagogue. "This negligence has now avenged itself bitterly."
The brutality of the attack exceeds anything previously seen in previous years and is a shock to all Jews in Germany, he said. The act on the highest Jewish holiday, Yom Kippur, deeply alarmed and frightened the Jewish community, said Schuster. Why the day of the attack hits the Jewish communities particularly hard, read here.
Two people killed in Halle
"First and foremost, however, we are shocked that two people were killed by the unscrupulous culprit," he said. "Our sincere sympathy goes out to their loved ones, as well as caring for the injured and wishing them speedy and full recovery."
At noon in Halle, a man had allegedly shot a passerby near the Jewish cemetery and a guest in a kebab snack bar. The alleged perpetrator had also tried to invade a synagogue. Two more people were injured.
Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that there is sufficient evidence for a possible right-wing extremist background in the opinion of the Attorney General. Based on the current state of knowledge, we must assume that it is at least an anti-Semitic attack, "said Seehofer.
