DENMARK-SHOOTING/JEWISH NEWSER Jews will not quit Denmark after synagogue shooting - senior rabbi
Record ID:
324482
DENMARK-SHOOTING/JEWISH NEWSER Jews will not quit Denmark after synagogue shooting - senior rabbi
- Title: DENMARK-SHOOTING/JEWISH NEWSER Jews will not quit Denmark after synagogue shooting - senior rabbi
- Date: 16th February 2015
- Summary: COPENHAGEN, DENMARK (FEBRUARY 16, 2015) (REUTERS) DANISH FLAGS AT HALF MAST ARMED POLICE OFFICERS WALKING PAST DANISH FLAGS AT HALF MAST WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE WITH CHIEF RABBI OF COPENHAGEN JAIR MELCHIOR AND CHAIRMAN OF JEWISH COMMUNITY IN DENMARK DAN ROSENBERG ASMUSSEN JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN DENMARK DAN ROSENBERG ASMUSSEN SAYING: "We have witnessed Paris, shooting in Paris. Before that, Brussels and before that even Toulouse. All shootings involving Jewish institutions. So what we did Saturday afternoon when we heard about a shooting taking place, in another place in Copenhagen, in a freedom of speech arrangement, we talked to the police and asked them to raise the security level. Which they did. And because of that there was police outside the synagogue and all over the city. I have never seen so much police in Copenhagen as it was Saturday night. Basically, because there was this police, I think they have prevented a tragedy. I mean the shooter could have got into the community centre and could have, well, the outcome could have been a massacre, that I do not dare to think about." MELCHIOR AND ROSENBERG ASMUSSEN SITTING BEHIND TABLE WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHIEF RABBI OF COPENHAGEN JAIR MELCHIOR SAYING: "I wanted to use the opportunity to send a message from here to around the world: We will not let terror dictate our life. We will not. We will continue living as Jews here in Denmark and everywhere else in the world. Their goal is that we walk around and be afraid. Everyone who is in charge of security will do what they need to do to secure our life. We will focus on living our life, go back to normal life and showing the terror that they won't dictate our way of living." REPORTERS WRITING (SOUNDBITE)(English) CHIEF RABBI OF COPENHAGEN JAIR MELCHIOR SAYING: "We got yesterday many messages from imams and from everyone around. It is not only that they are unhappy with the situation, they are deeply concerned. And we should help them, because they face also a very difficult situation. We should help them push the radicalists, Islamists outside of the society." MEDIA REPRESENTATIVES (SOUNDBITE) (English) CHAIRMAN OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY IN DENMARK DAN ROSENBERG ASMUSSEN SAYING: "So, we want to stay in Denmark, but we are concerned about the security situation in Denmark. And we are sure that the Danish government, the Danish authority, will get into that question." WIDE OF NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 3rd March 2015 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Denmark
- Country: Denmark
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA25HP2CK3OEU17B4TBFCV3BGKE
- Story Text: Denmark's Jewish leaders said on Monday (February 16) the decision to raise the security levels around Copenhagen's main synagogue following Saturday's (February 14) attack on a cafe meeting saved lives.
"I have never seen so much police in Copenhagen as it was Saturday night. Basically, because there was this police, I think they have prevented a tragedy. I mean the shooter could have got into the community centre and could have, well, the outcome could have been a massacre, that I do not dare to think about," Chairman of the Jewish Community in Denmark, Dan Rosenberg Asmussen, told a news conference.
Denmark's small but vibrant Jewish community on Sunday (February 15) rebuffed Israel's call to emigrate after an attack on Copenhagen's main synagogue that shook the sense of security Scandinavian tolerance had long provided.
Jewish communities around Europe have been reporting rising hostility against them and an attack last month on a Paris kosher supermarket killed four Jews, prompting the United Nations to say that anti-Semitism was thriving in Europe.
That assault came two days after Islamist militants gunned down 12 people at the weekly Charlie Hebdo, which had published cartoons mocking the Prophet Mohammad.
As in the French case, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Denmark's 2,500 Jews they would be welcome in his country. "Israel is your home," he said in Jerusalem.
Jair Melchior, Copenhagen's chief rabbi, flatly rejected the idea that Jews should leave Denmark.
"I wanted to use the opportunity to send a message from here to around the world: We will not let terror dictate our life. We will not. We will continue living as Jews here in Denmark and everywhere in the world. The goal is that we walk around and be afraid. Everyone who is in charge of security will do what they need to do to secure our life. We will focus on living our life, go back to normal life and showing the terror that they won't dictate our way of living."
The Copenhagen shootings began with an assault on a meeting with an artist who had caricatured Mohammad, and then an attack on the city's main synagogue where about 80 Jews celebrated a girl's confirmation. One person was killed at each site.
Danish police have not identified the gunman, who was killed in a shootout on Sunday, but said the attacks may have been inspired by the violence in Paris.
Melchior said the community should help the Muslim community tackle Islamist extremism.
"We got yesterday many messages from imams and from everyone around. It is not only that they are unhappy with the situation, they are deeply concerned. And we should help them, because they face also a very difficult situation. We should help them push the radicalists, Islamists outside of the society."
Denmark has welcomed Jews for centuries and most of the community survived the Holocaust, despite Nazi occupation, as Danes helped them flee to safety in neighbouring Sweden.
Only a fraction of the community returned but it enjoyed a long period of tranquility.
But tensions rose last year during Israel's war with Hamas militants in Gaza.
Copenhagen's 210-year-old Jewish school was vandalised in August when its windows were broken and walls covered with anti-Semitic graffiti. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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