Thursday, November 19, 2015

19-Nov-15: In Europe, they're closing synagogues

The Malmo synagogue in Sweden was "rocked by an explosion"
in the summer of 2010
For anyone with a Jewish sense of history (such a sensibility exists), Europe keeps producing a stream of events and insights that shake a person to the core. Like this report from the World Jewish Congress today:
Swedish synagogues shut down as terror alert is raised | Thu, 19 Nov 2015
Sweden's Jewish community shut down synagogues across the country as a precautionary measure against possible attacks by terrorist groups. The chairwoman of the Official Council of Jewish Communities in Sweden, Lena Posner-Körösi, said the security situation would be re-assessed on a daily basis.
On Wednesday, Swedish police said they were hunting for a man wanted for "planning a terrorist act". An arrest warrant had been issued for the suspect, the head of domestic intelligence and counter-terrorism, Anders Thornberg, told a press conference in Stockholm.
Sweden's National Center for Terrorist Threat Assessment yesterday raised its national terror threat status to "high", the second-highest level on a five-point scale. Denmark raised its threat status yesterday too but the WJC report says the Danish community has no current plans to close its synagogues.

How surprising is all this? Not so very.

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