Italy: Jews commemorate 1982 Palestinian attack on synagogue

Back in the good old days, Palestinians 'freedom movements' saw European Jews as quite legitimate targets.

Via ANSAmed:

Stefano Tachè was two years old when, on October 9, 1982, he was killed by Palestinian terrorists who attacked Rome's synagogue with assault rifles. On Friday morning, the Roman Jewish community gathered beside the Temple to commemorate the attack in which 40 other Jews were wounded and, most of all, denounce how the same ''ferocious hatred'' and anti-Semitism are behind the stabbings against Jews in Israel.

''Thirty three years ago, Jews were hit as they were leaving synagogue. There was an anti-Zionist atmosphere, behind which anti-Jewish hatred was hiding, the same that is spreading across Israel these days'', Rome Chief Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni told ANSA at the end of the ceremony.

In 1982, an Israeli operation was ongoing in Lebanon and a wave of attacks against Jewish cemeteries, schools and places of worship were reported across Europe, including the most serious in Rome.

''Today too, we must watch out against the danger of a resurgence of anti-Semitism and ask out governments and States to be aware of this'', Di Segni said. ''Most of all, we ask the media for an objectivity we often do not find, which risks to poison the climate''.

''I believe the attack 33 years ago showed how the forces of evil have a great ability to penetrate not just in Israel but also against Jewish communities worldwide'', observed Renzo Gattegna, president of the Union of Italian Jewish communitites (Ucei) during the ceremony in front of a memorial stone for Stefano.

''Stefano isn't here anymore but his death reminds us that danger is always behind the corner'', stressed Ruth Duraghello, president of the Roman Jewish community. ''Today we find ourselves in a situation that is very similar with the third Intifada in Israel'', she said.  more