In wake of the arrest of French Muslim Jihadist in Brussels Jewish Museum terror attack, Wiesenthal Center urges all European governments to increase security of Jewish institutions

January 1, 2014

The Simon Wiesenthal Center commended French authorities for the arrest of a 29 year-old French Muslim for the murderous attack on the Brussels Jewish Museum and expressed deep concerns for safety of Jewish Institutions across Europe.

"This arrest confirms our worst fears. Some had speculated that the murderous attack in Brussels, on the eve of European elections, could have been launched by neo-Nazis or a local racist. The fact that a young western-born Jihadist returning from fighting in the Civil War in Syria targeted European Jews as prime enemies of Al Qaeda is deeply alarming," officials of the leading Jewish human rights organization said Sunday.

"We know that every democracy in Western Europe and North America have such citizens returning to their native lands. These native born Jihadists post a new and unprecedented threat that will challenge intelligence and police agencies on both sides of the Atlantic."

"We particularly urge Western European and Scandinavian countries to bolster security for Jewish communities - who the arrest of the French suspect confirm are a prime target for Jihadists - and to take action to curb the rise of anti-Semitism in their own societies," Wiesenthal Center officials concluded.

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 members. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the Council of Europe, the OAS and the Latin American Parliament.