ECAJ offers its condolences to France
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry will be writing to the French Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Mr Christophe Lecourtier to offer condolences on behalf of the Australian Jewish community following the Nice terrorist attack.
The ECAJ has expressed its sadness and anger in response to yet another barbaric terrorist attack, in which at least 84 people were reportedly murdered, including many children, after a truck was deliberately driven into a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the French city of Nice.
In a statement ECAJ president Robert Goot and executive director Peter Wertheim said: “We extend our heartfelt condolences to the people of France. We stand in solidarity with them as they suffer and withstand a succession of brutal, cold-blooded attacks on their freedoms, their glorious culture and their way of life. Foremost, our thoughts and prayers are with the deceased, their families and the survivors.
We pray that the memories of the dead will always be a blessing to their loved ones. We pray that the bereaved know strength and courage and find comfort at this most difficult of times. We pray that they and the survivors of this attack are able to recover fully in body and in soul.
We are living in a time of savage hatred and violence. The slaughter of civilians in Western cities by followers of a violent and fascistic movement in the name of Islam has become all too familiar. Some twisted individuals have rejoiced and revelled in the spilling of the blood of innocent people. We must not allow their perverted passions to overcome us or be accommodated in any way. Nor should we ever think of these outrages as a normal part of contemporary life. They are crimes against humanity.
We urge all people of good will, of all faiths and political persuasions, to condemn this crime without equivocation and without the moral weakness that seeks to deflect, invert or explain away an act that is plainly evil.”
