Date: Wednesday, October 9, 2019
To: Friends & Supporters
From: Gary L. Bauer, Director

Yom Kippur Attack

There is disturbing news today of an attempted attack on a synagogue in Halle, Germany, which is not far from Leipzig. Two people were reportedly shot and killed after a gunman attempted to gain access to the synagogue. He fired repeated shots at the gate and threw a grenade into the synagogue's cemetery. Other reports indicate there were multiple attackers.

The victims were killed outside the synagogue, but the gate clearly prevented a far worse atrocity. It is unfortunate that Halle's Jewish community felt compelled to lock itself behind gates on Yom Kippur.

This attack on the holiest of Jewish holidays - is another sad reminder of the growing anti-Semitism across Europe. The Wall Street Journal reports that Germany has suffered a surge of anti-Semitism "after the arrival of hundreds of thousands of mainly Middle Eastern migrants since 2015."

Earlier this week, a Syrian refugee was arrested in Limburg after hijacking a truck and deliberately slamming into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, no one was killed in that attack.

In related news, French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday addressed a memorial service for the four victims of last week's terrorist attack inside the Paris police headquarters. He urged his countrymen to create a "society of vigilance."

Macron warned that "all the combined services of the state alone, will not be able to overcome the Islamist Hydra. It's up to the entire nation, which needs to unite, mobilize and be ready to act."

While this is certainly true, it is also incumbent upon Western governments to ensure that they are not importing more hate into their countries. Sadly, anti-Semitism is rampant throughout the Middle East and in many parts of Africa.

Khamenei Lies Again

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is once again repeating one of his favorite lies -- that the development of nuclear weapons is banned by Islam, or at least his interpretation of it. Khamenei also insisted that "Iran has firmly avoided" building nuclear weapons even though it has the technology.

That is a blatant lie.

We know Iran has a well-developed nuclear weapons program. We have known that for years. But more recently, Israel seized Iran's nuclear weapons archive.

We know Iran has an advanced ballistic missile program, which it recently unleashed on Saudi Arabia's oil facilities. And the ayatollah and other top Iranian leaders are constantly threatening a second Holocaust by annihilating the Jewish state.

Why on earth would we ever trust the ayatollah's claim that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons? Why would we ever trust anything the world's leading state-sponsor of terrorism says?