“The Heart of Civilized Europe Violated in Brussels”

By Renzo Gattegna*

Once again hatred has hit at the heart of our civilization, showing its most grim and miserable face. Once again, innocent people have fallen under the blows of fanaticism and intolerance .
We mourn the victims of the attack in Brussels and at the same time we express our concern and dismay for this Europe, violated in its own soul by those who try to uproot democracy, human rights, and even hope from our lives, moved by a sick ideology.

Our response to this new violence must be in the cohesion of all those who identify themselves with the values of peace, unity and brotherhood. Those values that our enemies, enemies of that free and plural Europe built on the ashes of Auschwitz, are trying to put once again under attack. Hence we cannot limit ourselves to some general words of condemnation but we have to put our energies into an international campaign, led by the police of the different countries, to identify all the potentially harmful to prevent similar episodes in the future.

To do so, our attention must also be dedicated to stop all illegal actions of racist, xenophobic and anti-Semitic nature that keep happening in the name of a poorly interpreted freedom of expression. To identify as soon as possible the perpetrators of this horrendous crime will help to shed light on the real size of the threat that we are facing.

*Renzo Gattegna is the President of the Union of Italian Jewish Communities