In response to an arson attack at the Hania Synagogue in Crete, Greece, on Jan. 5, B’nai B’rith International has sent a letter to the congregation’s president and general secretary conveying sympathy and unity.
“This act of anti-Semitic violence has shocked and angered the Jewish community worldwide,” President Dennis W. Glick and Executive Vice President Daniel S. Mariaschin said in the letter. “Please be assured that you have our sincerest condolences and our hopes for the safety and well-being of Greek Jewry in the wake of this atrocity.”
This most recent act of anti-Semitism follows a troubling pattern emerging in the country. Last June, a Jewish cemetery in Ioannina was desecrated; the culprits still have not been found.
“It greatly disheartens us to know that today many Jews are still imperiled,” Glick and Mariaschin wrote. “And when Jewish individuals and institutions are targeted for assault, Jews everywhere share a sense of outrage and deep concern for the welfare of their brothers and sisters.”
To read the letter in its entirety, click here.
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