AJC Saddened, Dismayed By Brussels Jewish Museum Attack

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May 24, 2014, 02:22 ET

NEW YORK, May 24, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC Executive Director David Harris issued the following statement:

AJC is deeply saddened and dismayed by the attack today in Brussels that left three people dead outside the Jewish Museum and another person critically wounded.

Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said that "it is likely that this is an anti-Semitic attack," with a search under way for the perpetrators.

If the Interior Minister is proved right, this is yet another frightening reminder of the growing danger of anti-Semitism in the heart of Europe, amidst an increasing number of assaults on Jews, including the murder of four Jews, three of whom were children, by a French Islamist in Toulouse, France, in March 2012, and the expected success of openly anti-Semitic parties in this weekend's European Parliament elections.

We mourn with the families of those who lost their loved ones in today's attack. We pray for the full recovery of the wounded. And we count on the Belgian government to do everything possible to arrest the assailants and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law, while taking additional measures to seek to prevent any further such attacks.

AJC's Brussels office, headed by Daniel Schwammenthal, is monitoring the situation closely and in the process of reaching out to Jewish community leaders and government officials.

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SOURCE American Jewish Committee