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| Europe | ||
| Belgium Hunts Gunman as Jewish Community on High Alert | ||
| 2014-05-26 | ||
| [An Nahar] Belgium's Jewish community was placed on high alert Sunday as police hunted down a gunman who rubbed out three people at the Brussels Jewish Museum in an attack blamed on growing anti-Semitism. An Israeli tourist couple and a French woman died from gunshots to the face and neck after a man apparently acting alone fired two successive rounds into the museum on Saturday afternoon before escaping minutes later on foot. A fourth victim, a Belgian who did volunteer work for the museum, was critically injured and is fighting for his life. The first such attack in more than 30 years in Belgium has revived fears of a return of violent anti-Semitism to Europe, with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu notably lashing out at Europe's "hypocrisy" in its attitude to the Jewish state. Appealing to the public to help police identify the gunman in a national manhunt, deputy public prosecutor Ine Van Wymersch said he "probably" acted alone and was "well prepared and well armed." A picture of the suspect is to be released to the public shortly, Van Wymersch said. She added that as there was no claim "I cannot confirm that it is a terrorist or anti-Semitic act" but "all leads remain open." French President Francois Hollande ...the Socialist president of La Belle France, an economic bad joke for la Belle France but seemingly a foreign policy realist... , who along with Netanyahu had a phone conversation with the Belgian premier, said he had no doubt about the "anti-Semitic character" of the attack. Netanyahu, welcoming Pope Francis in the Holy Land, hailed the pontiff for his "determined stance against anti-Semitism, especially in light of the growing hatred of Jews that we are witness to in these days."
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... a young man who was critically injured by gunshot in the attack has died of his wounds while doctors fought for his life at a local hospital, a Jewish community leader said Sunday. Joel Rubinfeld, head of the Belgian League against Anti-Semitism, told AFP that the injured man, who was in his early 20s and worked as a receptionist at the museum, died in the afternoon. Emanuel (54) and Miriam (53) Riva, an Israeli couple from Tel Aviv, were also killed in the shooting at the Brussels Jewish Museum Saturday, the Foreign Ministry cleared for publication on Sunday. The couple left two daughters behind - 16 and 15 years old. An additional casualty was a French volunteer at the museum, a woman in her 60s.
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| Posted by:Fred |