At a press conference this morning at the Wiesenthal Center’s Museum of Tolerance, Los Angeles Police Department’s Chief Michael Downing (pictured, left at podium) said in part, “Police and Intelligence alone cannot win this war. We need the participation of all religious leaders who, as the rabbis pointed out, must explicitly condemn such an ideology.”
Also present was Israeli Chief Rabbi David Lau (pictured center) who said, “We ask all women to light a candle tonight for people around the world.”
“The Jewish community feels itself on the edge of a seething volcano. Hostages in a Kosher supermarket held by an African Jihadist, who reportedly already killed two victims. Those held are mainly women and children. On the other side of the city's suburbs, the two murders of the Charlie Hebdo atrocity are holed up with at least one hostage. The supermarket terrorist is identified as an associate of the other two. He was responsible for killing a policewoman yesterday in southern Paris. The scenes are out of a war movie, surrounded by police and special forces. But the war is undeclared as long as the sickness is not publicly named as a State of Emergency. A culture of excuse exonerates the perpetrators as "disaffected, alienated, frustrated, unemployed.” No other group of frustrated unemployed has resorted to such behavior. Until politicians and media define the problem as Jihadism, remote-controlled from mosques in France and not only the Middle East, the cancer will not be isolated and destroyed. The seething volcano is covered by a flimsy blanket of denial. The Jewish community knows only too well the impact of an explosion. We pray this Shabbat for the hostages and calm for next week.”
EXPRESS YOUR SOLIDARITY WITH THE JEWISH COMMUNITY AND FRANCE #JeSuisCharlie #JeSuisJuifFrancais #