Popular Games: Shooting Up Synagogues

"[It was] scandalous [that police were not protecting the synagogue on the Jewish Yom Kippur holiday]."
"If police had been stationed outside the synagogue, then this man could have been disarmed before he could attack the others."
"[It was] a miracle that there were no further casualties [during the incident at the city's synagogue. About 60 worshippers were at a Yom Kippur service at the time]."
"We can’t deny that concern is spreading. I think it’s very important that the authorities will now ensure that a Jewish person who is visiting a synagogue can be sure to leave the building unharmed."
Josef Schuster, president, Central Council of Jews, Germany

"This case shows us how thinly spread the police cover is."
"While we're tackling terrorism we cannot at the same time involve many staff in monitoring far-right extremists."
"We didn't underestimate it, but we can't foresee everything and prevent it."
Oliver Malchow, chairman, GdP [German police union]

The suspect was filmed wearing a helmet and shooting in a street in Halle   Reuters

"My name is Anon and I think the Holocaust never happened ... feminism is the cause of declining birthrates in the West, which acts as a scapegoat for mass immigration -- and the root of all these problems is the Jew."
Stephan Balliet, neo-Nazi German attacker

"We saw via the camera system at our synagogue that a heavily armed perpetrator with a steel helmet and a gun tried to shoot open our doors."
"The man looked like he was from the special forces ...  But our doors held."
"We barricaded the door from inside and waited for the [arrival of] police."
Max Privorozki, chairman, Halle Jewish community

Witnesses say the gunman tried to target Yom Kippur observers using explosives and guns   Getty Images

This attacker, whom German authorities would not completely name, leaving his surname identified only as "B.", is a Nazi sympathizer and a misogynist, a denier of historical documentation attesting to the Holocaust as a fascist German cataclysm for Europe's Jews, and a hater of the open-armed welcome that the current government of Germany under Chancellor Angela Merkel gave to an influx of Muslim migrants flooding the country several years ago, adding another million to the already-settled five million Muslim immigrants in the country.

The man has a whole host of 'hate' subjects, but everything he detests and fears and has vowed to do his best to eliminate dwindles in comparison to his hatred for Jews whom he faults for all that is wrong in Germany and the world at large. That latter-day influx of a million Muslim refugees welcomed into Germany has served to jeopardize even further the safety and security of German Jews. The simple fact being that the refugee migrants brought with them their ancient antipathy to Jews and their transfixed hatred of Israel; double indemnity for Jews; rage from Germany's own neo-Nazis and the late-coming anti-Semites.

A 19-year-old Syrian whipped a man whom he took for a Jew in central Berlin in 2018, sentenced to four weeks in prison, ordered to visit a Holocaust museum. His pretrial detention spared him the month in prison. A Syrian man last Friday attempted to break into a Berlin synagogue with a knife, then was dismissed without charge. According to Jewish leaders in Germany, Hezbollah and a number of far-right groups freely slander Israel as a screen for anti-Semitism. The annual Al Quds Day sees pro-Palestinian protesters burn Israeli flags and chant anti-Semitic songs.

In early 2019, disciplinary action was undertaken by the German Foreign Ministry toward one of its diplomats posted to Israel who "liked" anti-Semitic social media content. Close to two thousand neo-Nazis marched in Berlin on October 3, celebrating German reunification with chants of anti-Semitic slogans. Anti-Semitism is now as pervasive in Germany, thanks to home-grown viral hatred and the addition of Muslims from traditionally Jew-hating cultures as it has ever been historically, including under the Third Reich.

Stephan B, 27, from Saxony-Anhalt was treated in hospital for injuries he sustained when he attempted to escape custody after he murdered two people and wounded several others. According to the German interior minister Horst Seehofer, the attack was "at least anti-Semitic" (oh, how official Germany loathes having to admit the presence of anti-Semitism and terrorism) and since it appears to be a manifestation of right-wing extremism, the investigation has been taken over by federal prosecutors. "That on the Day of Atonement a synagogue was shot at hits us in the heart. We must all act against anti-Semitism in our country", wrote Foreign Minister Heiko Maas.

On Wednesday, a the noon hour, Stephan Balliet ("B."), who had loaded four kilos of explosive in his car, emerged from that car in a determined, malice aforethought attempt to force his way into the packed synagogue hosting children and the elderly among the congregants during the most sacred day in the Judaic calendar, the Day of Atonement. While the congregants swiftly took steps to barricade themselves against the gunman's entry, he shot a woman walking on the street nearby a Jewish cemetery alongside the synagogue.

Wall Street Journal

From that venue he continued on to a Turkish kebab shop to shoot one man dead , then continued to pump additional bullets into the lifeless body. A worker at the Kebab outlet saw an explosive thrown at the restaurant before the shooting. "He was very calm, like a professional", said Rifat Tekin. "He didn't say anything. He just kept coming and shooting ... I was hiding behind the salad counter."

A shootout with police ensued, which led to the killer's injury, but which failed to stop him from reaching a rented car and driving to a nearby village where he drove to a garage, demanding another vehicle, shooting an employee who attempted to stop him, and finally stealing a parked taxi. He drove the stolen taxi into a truck. He may not have succeeded in his mission to storm the synagogue and slaughter as many Jews as he could manage, but he did take steps to ensure that his enterprise was live-streamed on a social media site where headcam footage was posted on Twitch.

German intelligence services had warned of a growing threat from German extremists and Halle happens to be a recognized centre for far-right sympathizers where the Identitarian movement is suspected of links to the New Zealand gunman who stormed a mosque, killing 51 worshipers in Christchurch. Don't coincidences abound? The statistics are that 1,799 anti-Semitic incidents were reported to German police in 2018, a steep rise over previous years, and rising, though many such incidents go unreported.

"We have seen a rise in anti-Semitism for years now, we see it across society. We see it on the right, on the left, in Islamism, and in mainstream society."
"Right now it feels like it’s coming from everywhere."
Remko Leemhuis, acting director, American Jewish Committee, Berlin