Remembering Hyper Cacher, Hebdo victims, one year on
AUSTRALIAN Jewry this week joined the international community in marking the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed the lives of 16 people, six of them Jewish.
AUSTRALIAN Jewry this week joined the international community in marking the first anniversary of the Charlie Hebdo and Hyper Cacher terrorist attacks in Paris that claimed the lives of 16 people, six of them Jewish.
Leading the commemorations, Executive Council of Australian Jewry president Robert Goot said the anniversary of these tragic events “should serve as a time to pause and reflect”.
“Foremost, we remember those who died in the kosher supermarket and in the offices of Charlie Hebdo – staff at a magazine were murdered simply because of their ideas, while in the Hyper Cacher, four Jews were murdered simply because they were Jews,” Goot said.
“We pray that the families and friends of the murdered are comforted and blessed by their memories. We hope that each anniversary will serve to remind us of the scourge of murderous jihadism and our collective duty to fight terrorism and anti-Semitism wherever we find it.”
Stating that the one-year anniversary is an “appropriate time to reflect on the tragic loss of human life and the symbolism of the attacks in threatening both freedom of speech and the Jewish community”, Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council executive director Colin Rubenstein said: “The attacks were in a way a harbinger, so it’s also appropriate to reflect on the many subsequent terrorist outrages throughout the world in the year since these atrocities took place, and to remain resolute in our determination to recognise the attackers as Islamist extremists who must be defeated together with the evil ideology that drives them.”
B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation Commission chair Dvir Abramovich said as we reflect on the events of last year that “forever changed our world and shocked our conscience, we grieve for the lives lost on those unspeakable days of horror”.
“The victims of these heinous crimes will always be in our hearts. We remember the acts of bravery by the men and women of the French police force who worked valiantly to protect their citizens against the terrorists and the extraordinary and exemplary heroism shown by Lassana Bathily who saved the lives of seven shoppers by hiding them from the gunman,” Abramovich said.
He added: “As we mark this solemn occasion, we stand united in memory of the dead and offer their families and friends our thoughts and strength, in the hope that they can take some solace in our unity and in our resolve to destroy the evil of extremism that threatens the fabric of our way of life.”
EVAN ZLATKIS
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