Condolences to Norway
Dr Danny Lamm, the president of The Executive Council of Australian Jewry has sent a letter of condolence to the Norwegian Ambassador to Australia following the massacres that took place in the Scandinavian country over the weekend.
Dr Danny Lamm
In his letter to Ambassador Siren Gjerme Erikson, Lamm wrote
On behalf of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the elected peak national body of the Australian Jewish community, I extend our deepest sympathies to the Norwegian government and people following the double terror attacks in Oslo on Friday and especially to the injured and to all Norwegians who have lost loved ones.
The attacks bore a horrific similarity to the Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania in our own country in 1996. In both cases a deeply disturbed young man in the thrall of fanatical ideas shattered the calm of societies that were renowned for their peacefulness by randomly murdering dozens of innocent people.
The Jewish people, too, are painfully familiar with the experience of being targets of the calculated savagery of acts of terrorism. Nothing can excuse such behavior.
As Australians and as Jews we join with all people of goodwill in praying for the swift and complete recovery of the injured, for the comforting of the bereaved and, in time, for the healing of the psychological and emotional wounds inflicted upon the Norwegian people
It is sad that the problems of Multiculturalism in Scandinavia and Europe have now lead to tragic events like this .
Notwithstanding that the Norwegian Labor Youth group on the Island were planning anti- Israel boycotts and urging their leaders to vote for a Palestinian state in September it is a waste of life.
It angers me when I see the ECAJ speak out against horrific crimes globally, while they remain steadfastly silent against the gruesome 2009 attack in the Tel Aviv youth centre.