The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress expresses its indignation at the attack on the synagogue of the Darkei Shalom community in Moscow. At night, when there was no one to stop them, cowardly scum threw bottles with incendiary mixtures at the synagogue. Than God, there was no fire. Several days earlier, similar scum desecrated the memorial to the victims of the Holocaust at the Petrozavodsk Jewish cemetery. No courage is needed to fight against dead people.

We are most concerned by the fact that the investigative authorities are once again trying to evaluate such anti-Semitic actions as simple hooliganism.

It is obvious that the general level of anti-Semitic activities has been reduced in recent years through the efforts of the Russian authorities. The trials of representatives of xenophobic currents and the strict and undoubtedly deserved sentences have certainly been a constraining factor on anti-Semitic acts and their aggravation.

However, the attack on the Moscow synagogue and the desecration of the memorial in Petrozavodsk show that anti-Semitism has not disappeared. This chronic illness still lies dormant, and from time to time this abscess bursts through with violence. This is first and foremost the result of a lack of attention from state and community to fostering youth in the spirit of tolerance, respect towards others, and the law. It seems that threats of punishment cannot stop xenophobia, and that the most noble declarations and projects cannot replace educational work.

The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress expresses its solidarity to the worshippers of the Darkei Shalom synagogue, and calls for the Russian authorities to give an adequate political and jursiprudential evaluation to this crime, and to find and punish the guilty party as soon as possible, for impunity begets new crimes.

We also call for the authorities and community structures to work more on fostering tolerance and mutual respect, and to orient this work first and foremost at the young generation. The EAJC is ready to provide any possible help in this regard, sharing its significant experience collected through many years of work in this direction.