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Published on 22 November 2015
Paris Jews on edge after wave of terror
By Rafael Hoffman, published in Hamodia Novembre 17, 2015
In the wake of shocking terror attacks in Paris, the city’s Jewish community struggles with feelings of mourning as well as concerns for their own safety, tempered by a resolve to carry on as normally as possible.
Roger Cukierman, president of the Council of French Jewish Institutions, spoke of the unique empathy that the community shares with the general public as well as the extent to which the attacks have shaken society.
“Like all of France, we are shocked and horrified by the barbarism and are feeling a lot of compassion. We know all too well what terror is,” he told Hamodia.
Violent anti-Semitic attacks have been steadily rising in France for several years. The 2012 killings at a Jewish school in Toulouse attracted wide media attention. More recently, in the days following an attack on the controversial Paris-based magazine Charlie Hebdo, four Jews were killed in Hyper Cacher, a kosher grocery.
Friday’s violence, which claimed over 130 lives and wounded several hundreds more, was the largest-scale attack on French soil in recent history.
“I think it is understood by all that we have entered into a world war,” said Mr. Cukierman. “Previously, attacks focused on Jews or journalists, but now it is a clear and random attack on the general public with the sole intention of killing as many people as possible.”
The French government has been providing heightened security to all Jewish institutions since last January. After this most recent attack, the authorities repeated a warning that has been issued in times of high alert — that people attending shuls and other Jewish institutions should take care not to chat or tarry in front of the buildings.
“We are trying to carry on as usual,” said Mr. Cukierman. “Security didn’t have to be increased because it is already at maximum; we cannot ask for more”... Read more.