"ALL CAPS IN DEFENSE OF LIBERTY IS NO VICE."

Thursday, November 01, 2012

SOLIDARITY IN TOULOUSE

Here's the report on Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the Jewish school that suffered the tragedy earlier this year:
French President Francois Holland and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife, met in Toulouse Thursday with the families of the victims of the March terrorist attack at the Ohr Hatorah (formerly Otzar HaTorah) school.

Both Holland and Netanyahu pledged to fight anti-Semitism, both in France and globally. During the meeting, Netanyahu said, "The fact that we are standing here together, the French President and Prime Minister of Israel, says everything about our partnership in the war against terrorism, against racism and against violence."

After the meeting, a memorial ceremony took place at the school. The ceremony was also attended by Jewish Agency Chairman, Natan Sharansky; the Chief Rabbi of France, Gilles Bernheim, and hundreds of members of the Jewish community of France.

The Prime Minister said at the memorial service, "History teaches us that the plague of anti-Semitism begins with attacks against Jews but very quickly it spreads further and hits others. If we don't put out the flame of anti-Semitism from its outset it could turn into a big fire which consumes everything in its path.

"The barbaric hatred of the murderers threatens not only the Jews but the entire civilization. I came here from Jerusalem, the eternal capital of Israel, to say together with you against all of the enemies of Israel, three distinct words: Am Israel Chai! Let's sing it out loud so that our voices will be heard in Toulouse, Burgas, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, schools in Maalot, the Dolphinarium in Tel -- Aviv, the Fogel family in Itamar. Am Israel Chai."

On March 19th of this year, a terrorist pulled up to the Jewish school Otzar Hatorah on a scooter and opened fire on parents and students outside of the school, killing four. The first victim was Rabbi Jonathan Sandler, a French-Israeli teacher at the school, who was shot to death outside the school gates while trying to shield his two young sons, Leo, 6 and Gabriel 3, who were also murdered. The fourth victim was eight-year-old Miriam Monsonego, the daughter of the school's principal.
I'm glad to see he was very strong in his address of the issues.

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