ORF Pays Attention

The official Austrian media outlet ORF is belatedly noticing that Jews are under siege all over Europe. Our Austrian correspondent ESW has prepared a summary based on an article at the ORF website:

The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation is finally realizing that there are too many attacks on Jews to ignore the situation.

“European politicians are gravely concerned about the attacks on Jews. Following an arson attack in France, Italy is now shocked about a call not to buy from Jewish shops.”

The report then goes on to describe the attack on a Jewish girl in France and the attacks in Belgium. “We came to the conclusion that the situation is certainly an explosive one,” says a Belgian official. In Antwerp, a Muslim and a Jewish group issued a joint statement saying that “we have different views on the conflict, but that is no reason to carry this conflict into Belgium.” Jewish groups in Germany also voiced their concern, especially after the arson attacks in Denmark. In Great Britain approximately 20-25 attacks on Jews have been registered by a Jewish group called Community Security Trust.

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The Vatican has been heavily criticized: A spokesperson for the Vatican compared Gaza to “a concentration camp”. “Just look at the way these people are living,” said Cardinal Renato Martini, in charge of human rights at the Vatican. He echoed Jean-Marie Le Pen’s remarks, who also compared the Gaza strip with a concentration camp.

Cardinal Martini was immediately criticized by the Israeli defense ministry, a criticism he did not accept. “My point is not to defend Hamas, but to show that what is happening in Gaza is inhumane and terrible.”