European Ministers Pay Tribute to Massacre Victims

Delegates from the European Union attended a memorial service on Tuesday morning at the offices of the Rabbinical Centre of Europe in Brussels. The specially convened gathering paid tribute to the lives of the three children and a Rabbi who were gunned down in Toulouse the day before.

Addressing the assembly, Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet of London, UK said: “This can only be described was a blatant Anti-Semitic attack, predicated on baseless hatred and a complete disregard for human life. They died for their faith – because they were Jews. That is something we thought we left behind, in 1945.”

Referring to the gunman as “nothing other than a mere coward,” Schochet called on those assembled, which included high ranking representatives, including the Vice President of the European Parliament and representatives from the President of the European Commission, to determine what they could do “to eradicate once and for all, radicalism and fundamentalism from Europe. Let theses deaths not be in vain. We owe it to them and their memory.”

And in heavily criticised attack on Cathy Ashton, Europe’s Foreign Policy Chief, who, in an address to Palestinian Youth paid tribute to children killed in “terrible circumstances” listing Syria, Gaza and Toulouse, Rabbi Schochet added: “To equate the two is not just reprehensible – it reflects a complete lack of moral judgement.” Ashton has since said her remarks had been “grossly exaggerated by the media.”

The event was also attended by the French Ambassador to the EU and other French, American and Israeli delegates from the European Parliament.