Justice has been done. The gunmen responsible for the
massacre of 12 at the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper in Paris have been
killed by French police; and another radical Islamist, who held six people
hostage at a kosher market in Paris has also been killed. Sadly, four hostages
were killed in the latter assault.
If these audacious and despicable attacks teach us anything,
the lesson was summed up for us by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in
a video address to the French people: “The attacks of radical Islam know no
boundaries … The terrorists want to destroy our freedoms and our civilization.” Another one of our strongest world leaders, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, echoed Netanyahu’s words, when he said, “The international jihadist
movement has declared war … They have declared war on any country like
ourselves that values freedom, openness, and tolerance … And we may not like
this and wish it would go away, but it is not going to go away and the reality
is that we are going to have to confront it..jpg)
As Christians and Jews, we are all part of this fight, and
it is a fight we must engage in – and win – together. Our response must be
clear and unambiguous, and we must speak with one voice. As Jews and Christians
we should be just as quick to defend the principle of individual rights – a
principle based on our shared Judeo-Christian heritage – as others are to
attack them. We must be as quick to reject violence in defense of some
misbegotten idea of faith as others are to resort to it. And we must redouble
our efforts to fight terror wherever and whenever it occurs.
France – and all of Europe – has been experiencing a
dramatic and disturbing rise in anti-Semitism and radical Islamism, and these
recent attacks are just the most recent, and most disturbing, examples. The
Fellowship will redouble our efforts to provide security to Jewish
institutions, and to support aliyah (immigration to Israel) for those Jews who
wish to experience the safety and self-determination of living in their biblical
and spiritual homeland, Israel. Together – with the help of our dedicated
Christian friends around the world – we will not fail.
Today, I ask you to pray for the loved ones of those
murdered in these cowardly attacks in Paris, the latest in a long series of
radical Islamist atrocities. And pray for the day when those atrocities will
finally cease, and God will bless us, and His entire world, with His most
precious gift – the gift of shalom, peace.
Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein
Founder and President
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