10.10.2019
Dublin Interfaith Forum Condemns German Anti Semetic Attack
Dublin City Interfaith Forum, which includes representatives from Dublin & Glendalough, has issued a statement about yesterday’s attack in Germany.
Members of the Dublin City Interfaith Forum (DCIF) condemn in the strongest possible terms the hate crime that occured in the German city of Halle. This clearly anti–semetic attack, directed against the Jewish people of that city on their holiest of days, brings back horrendous memories from a history that can never be allowed to repeat itself.
“People of all faiths and none in Dublin city stand in solidarity and sympathy with our Jewish neighbours at this frightening time,” said a spokesperson for the DCIF. “The ugly specter of anti–semetic hatred can never be tolerated and left unchallenged in any civilised society that values the important contributions of its diverse population. An attack on any minority is an attack on us all,” the spokesperson said.
The DCIF particularly noted that this attack came on the day that An Garda Síochána introduced a working definition for hate crime as part of its diversity and integration strategy here in Ireland.
“Such tragic attacks, as today’s atrocity in Halle, focus our minds on the importance of confronting hate crimes whenever and wherever they appear. Hate directed at minority groups must be effectively dealt with in any society, before it grows into the kind of crime that we have witnessed today in Halle,” the DCIF spokesperson added.
The spokesperson also said that the solidarity of Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Shikhs and Hindus, that is evident in bodies like the DCIF, offers a model of the kind of cooperation that we so desperately need now in society to address intolerance and hatred that is again showing its ungly face amongst us in recent years.
“All of us in the Dublin City Interfaith Forum – people of various faiths, standing shoulder to shoulder – condemn unreservedly the murderous action directed against the Jewish people today in Germany. At times like this, it is important that we all take practical measures to show our neighbours who belong to minority faith groups that they have our support and solidarity; that as Dubliners, we will never allow this kind of hatred to fester amongst us,” the DCIF spokesperson added.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to the victims, their families, and to all that knew and loved them, and whose loss is incalculable, at this holy time of Yom Kippur,” the spokesperson said.