2 dead in livestreamed anti-Semitic attack in German synagogue
HALLE (AFP) — At least two persons were shot dead in the German city of Halle on Wednesday in an anti-Semitic attack as Jews marked the holy day of Yom Kippur, with the gunman livestreaming the assault and posting a video online.
The suspect has been captured, according to police, as security was ramped up at synagogues and other Jewish sites across Germany.
In a copy of a 35-minute video obtained by AFP but whose authenticity has not been confirmed by police, the gunman filmed himself launching into a diatribe against women and Jews, before carrying out the attack, in a disturbing repeat of the modus operandi of the attacker in the Christchurch mosque assault earlier this year.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the deadly shooting, her spokesman said, adding an expression of “solidarity for all Jews on the holy day of Yom Kippur.”
Merkel later attended a vigil at Berlin’s main synagogue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the attack “a new expression of anti-Semitism on the rise in Europe.”
“I urge German authorities to continue to act resolutely against the phenomenon of anti-Semitism,” Netanyahu tweeted.
The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany ripped into the authorities for failing to provide adequate security on such a key day.
“It is scandalous that the synagogue in Halle is not protected by police on a holiday like Yom Kippur,” Josef Schuster said. “This negligence has now been bitterly repaid.”