Jan 9/2015

One of the key lessons that needs to be learned over and over again is the importance of standing up to the forces of darkness and evil that seek to undermine and trample our values of freedom and human dignity. 

 This week we experienced two horrific manifestations of the challenge posed by these vicious forces, both of them in France, one still taking place as I am writing this message: The brutal act of savagery carried out in the heart of Paris against the staff of the magazine Charlie Hebdo, and the currently unfolding drama of an armed terrorist who embarked on a shooting spree at a Kosher Deli in Paris, threatening to kill the innocent shoppers he took as hostages.

 

The dark radical forces of Radical Islam know no boundaries. They do not target only Jews, but rather go after our society at large, aiming to destroy our freedoms and civilization. All free countries and all civilized societies must stand up as one to fight this evil scourge. Only if we stand together, undivided, will it be defeated. 

Our sympathies this week are with the bereaved families and with the people of France. In the words of Israel's Prime Minister" This attack on France is an attack on us all. Free peoples everywhere must unite to confront radical Islamist terrorism and to protect ourselves against this threat to our common civilization. The people of Israel stand with the people of France at this difficult time"

Shabbat Shalom,

Yaron Sideman
Consul General Of Israel,
Mid-Atlantic Region