Three German Palestinians sought to torch the Wuppertal synagogue with Molotov cocktails in July, 2014. The local Wuppertal court panel said in its 2015 decision that the three men wanted to draw “attention to the Gaza conflict” with Israel. The court deemed the attack not to be motivated by antisemitism.
Israel launched Operation Protective Edge in the summer of 2014 to stop Hamas rocket attacks into Israeli territory.
The court sentenced the three men – the 31-year-old Mohamad E., the 26 year-old Ismail A. and the 20-year-old Mohammad A.—to suspended sentences. The men tossed self-made Molotov cocktails at the synagogue. German courts frequently decline to release the last names of criminals to protect privacy.
The attack caused €800 damage to the synagogue. The original synagogue in Wuppertal was burned by Germans during the Kristallnacht pogroms in 1938. Wuppertal has a population of nearly 344,000 and is located in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia.[...]
After the local Wuppertal court decision in 2015, Volker Beck, a leading Green Party MP, said the “attack on the synagogue was motivated by antisemitism” and blasted the court for issuing a decision stating that the goal of the attack was to highlight the war in Gaza.[...]
Considering that the burning occurred during an Israeli/Arab war it appears the court has a point.
ReplyDeletewhich is?
ReplyDeleteSo i can harass an arab cause it's now in contention in mid
ReplyDeleteThere is a longstanding argument whether every anti-Israel act should automatically be regarded as anti-Semitic. I am personally undecided about the issue and therefore think the court has a point.
ReplyDeletethat you can burn down a shul to register displeasure with Israel?!
ReplyDeleteThe court penalized the offenders for arson. At the same time, the court, perhaps correctly, said that their action was not anti-Semitic. Who can argue with that when anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism are not necessarily the same thing?
ReplyDeleteWhile one can argue that burning an israeli flag or effigy of an israeli official is not anti-semitism. I really think burning a shul in germany is anti-semitism. If I burn down a mosque or attack arab speakers on the train in anger at the recent attack in Jerusalem, that would be anti-islam, and not a valid protest.
ReplyDeleteBurning the Israeli embassy would be a risky proposition. Much easier to burn a shul which gets the message across just as well.
ReplyDelete