“The rise of anti-Semitism has today reached such epidemic levels that it poses an existential threat to the very soul of Europe. We cannot build a future for Europe if our foundations are rotten. As the new European Commission is being confirmed by the European Parliament in Brussels this week, they need to make the fight against anti-Semitism a top priority.”

‘’The fact that the perpetrators in yesterday’s attack were motivated by the same demonic ideology of National Socialism that only two generations ago led to the greatest crime against humanity shows that we are losing the fight against anti-Semitism”

BRUSSELS— In the wake of Wednesday’s attack against a synagogue in Germany, the European Coalition for Israel (ECI) has demanded the new President of the European Commissioin Ursula von der Leyen to call together a European crisis summit in Brussels on the alarming rise of anti-Semitism.

On Wednesday, the day of Yom Kippur, the holiest in the Jewish year,  a neo-Nazi gunman attacked a synagogue in Halle, in eastern Germany leaving two people dead and two injured.

‘’As the new European Commission is being confirmed by the European Parliament in Brussels this week, they need to make the fight against anti-Semitism a top priority,’’ said ECI Founding Director Tomas Sandell in a statement.

He continued : “The rise of anti-Semitism has today reached such epidemic levels that it poses an existential threat to the very soul of Europe. We cannot build a future for Europe if our foundations are rotten. As the new European Commission is being confirmed by the European Parliament in Brussels this week, they need to make the fight against anti-Semitism a top priority. ECI therefore calls upon the President designate of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen to immediately on her installation call together a European crisis summit in Brussels on the alarming rise of anti-Semitism.’’

He added : “As we approach the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and the end of the Shoah we owe this to the six million Jews who were killed in the Nazi concentration camps for the simple fact that they were Jewish. Never again means now.’’

“It is a dark day for Germany and for Europe as a whole when Jews can no longer gather for prayer in their local synagogues on their holiest day in the year, Yom Kippur, without having to fear for their lives,” he said.

‘’The fact that the perpetrators in yesterday’s attack were motivated by the same demonic ideology of National Socialism that only two generations ago led to the greatest crime against humanity shows that we are losing the fight against anti-Semitism,’’ stressed Sandell.