The masked gunman, identified as Stephan B<\/a>. was captured after the incident and authorities announced they believe he was working alone. He was reportedly repelled by the synagogue\u2019s doors, secured shut during the services Wednesday on the most solemn day of the Jewish year. There were 70 to 80 people in the synagogue at the time of the attack. One woman was shot dead at a nearby Jewish cemetery and the gunman threw a grenade at the kebab shop, and then fired at it, killing a man.<\/p>\nTwo people who sustained gunshot wounds went into surgery at Halle\u2019s university hospital, a hospital spokesman told the BBC.<\/p>\n
The gunman, who reportedly was dressed in combat gear, fled in his own car. Police captured Stephan B., but at the time of his capture said another suspect was on the loose and warned residents to stay indoors.<\/p>\n
CNN quoted a German security official as saying that the ideology driving the attack was from the far right. SITE, a private intelligence group based in the United States, said on Twitter that the shooters had posted video on a gaming site and that one of them had said, in English, that the \u201croot of all problems are Jews.\u201d<\/p>\n
The man suspected of attacking the synagogue broadcast a screed in English on the Twitch Livestream platform.<\/p>\n
In his rant, reportedly in the Twitch livestream platform, he blamed feminism for the decline of birth rates in the west and mass immigration. He held Jews responsible for all these problems. He filmed himself before commencing the attack.<\/p>\n
Security was increased at synagogues around Germany in the wake of the attack.<\/p>\n
The head of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Josef Schuster, said the news of the attack and killings has \u201cdeeply distressed and frightened our community.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe perpetrator tried to enter the synagogue, and the neighboring Jewish cemetery was also attacked, so that an anti-Semitic motive is presumed,\u201d he said. \u201cThe brutality of the attack goes beyond anything that has happened in recent years and is a profound shock to all Jews in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that it was \u201cscandalous that the synagogue in Halle was not protected by the police on a holiday like Yom Kippur.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rebecca Blady, a visiting rabbi in Berlin for Base, a program of Hillel in Germany, together with her husband Jeremy Borovitz, had been invited with other guests from Berlin to spend Yom Kippur in Halle. After the holiday she posted on Facebook about the attack.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the end of Yom Kippur in Halle, Germany. We\u2019ve made it out with our lives, in health, and amazing spirits \u2013 with gratitude to G-d \u2013 as today there was a large scale terrorist attack in Halle, and the terrorist began his day right outside the walls of the synagogue we were praying in.\u201d<\/p>\n
She also wrote: \u201cFor whatever reason, the man with the gun was stalled or prohibited from entering the synagogue. G-d counted us all there today, one by one, as deserving of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe came here to bond with a small Jewish community, to feel the Divine energy of Yom Kippur, to sing and dance a little more than we might have otherwise. We are still here, trying to make sense of what happened and what is going on,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n
Following the shooting, the worshippers at the synagogue were taken to a local hospital to be checked for shock and trauma, Blady said, and they prayed the concluding Neila service and blew the shofar there.<\/p>\n
German and other world leaders condemned the attack.<\/p>\n
German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her condolences and \u201csolidarity for all Jews on the holy day of Yom Kippur,\u201d according to the BBC.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe terrorist attack against the Jewish community in Halle Germany on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of our people, is additional testimony that anti-Semitism in Europe is increasing,\u201d Israel\u2019s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement issued Wednesday night after the end of the holiday.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of the people of Israel, I send condolences to the families of the victims and wishes for a quick recovery to the injured. I call on the German authorities to continue taking determined action against anti-Semitism,\u201d he also said.<\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s President Reuven Rivlin in a statement on Wedneday night said: \u201cWe are stunned and pained by the terrible anti-Semitic murders in Germany today, during the holiest and most important day of the year for all Jews around the world. I call on the leaders of Germany and the free world to bring the full force of law against anti-Semitism and its results.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will continue to campaign for education and remembrance in the fight anti-Semitism which raises its head again and again in Europe and across the world, based on a the clear understanding that it is not a problem of the Jews alone, but threatens to destroy us all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is appalling that on this day \u2014 the holiest in the Jewish calendar \u2014 when Jews are sitting in synagogues all around the world immersed in prayer, yet another attack against Jews has been perpetrated,\u201d World Jewish Congress President Ronald Lauder said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately the time has come when all Jewish places of worship and Jewish communal sites need to have enhanced round-the-clock security provided by state security services. We also need immediately to launch a unified front against neo-Nazi and other extremist groups, which threaten our well-being. The fact that, 75 years after the Holocaust, such groups are gaining influence in Germany speaks volumes. We stand with the Jewish community of Germany at this tragic time,\u201d Lauder also said.<\/p>\n
Jewish Agency Chairman Isaac Herzog called the attack \u201cshocking.\u201d \u201cThe entire world sees and hears what is happening and must understand that there can be no compromise in the fight against hatred of Jews and antisemitism. The Jewish Agency will support the growing Jewish community in Halle,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hezgog said he spoke with German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas and quoted him as saying: \u201cThis is an attack on all of us. We all stand together on the frontlines against antisemitism.\u201d<\/p>\n
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