Foreign leaders condemn France school shooting

JERUSALEM — Israel led foreign condemnation Monday of the shooting of three children and a teacher at a Jewish school in France, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu calling it “despicable murder.”

Police officers gather at the site of a shooting in Toulouse, southwestern France, Monday, March 19, 2012. A father and his two sons were among four people who died Monday when a gunman opened fire in front of a Jewish school in a city in southwest France, the Toulouse prosecutor said Monday. BRUNO MARTIN /AP

Children aged three, six and 10, and a 30-year-old religious education teacher were shot dead as they arrived for classes at the Ozar Hatorah school in the southern city of Toulouse.

The killer, riding a powerful scooter, is suspected of being the same gunman who shot dead three soldiers of Arab origin and badly wounded a fourth from the Caribbean in two incidents this month in Toulouse and nearby Montauban.

“In France today there was a despicable murder of Jews, including small children,” Netanyahu told a meeting of his Likud party.

“It is too early to determine exactly what the background to the murderous act was, but we certainly cannot rule out the option that it was motivated by violent and murderous anti-Semitism.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was “deeply shocked” over the incident, a statement from his bureau said.

“Only a person possessing demonic evil could conduct such a terrible murder of small children at a school,” it quoted him as saying, while parliament speaker Reuven Rivlin said the attack was against Jews and Israel and as such should alert the international community.

The dead teacher was named by a relative as Jonathan Sandler, originally from Jerusalem, who had moved to France last year.

European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso said, “I strongly condemn this odious crime and express the horror that this blind violence inspires. Nothing is more intolerable than the murder of innocent children.”

“I want to present my most sincere condolences to the families of the victims. Our thoughts go to the wounded and to all the children of this college who lost several comrades,” Barroso said.

US ambassador to Paris Charles Rivkin said, “I strongly condemn these killings, along with the murders of French soldiers that occurred last week in Toulouse and Montauban.

“On behalf of the American people, I would like to extend my heartfelt condolences to the families and loved ones of the victims.”

The Vatican voiced outrage, with spokesman Federico Lombardi condemning a “horrific and heinous act,” noting that it followed other “senseless violence” in France.

Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo said that he learned about the shooting “with horror and indignation,” while German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said he was “deeply shocked” by the “terrible tragedy.”

“I hope the perpetrators are found quickly and are called to account,” Westerwelle said in a written statement.

“Anti-Semitism and violence against Jewish institutions or people of Jewish faith have no place in Europe and must be rigorously punished,” he added.

Poland’s foreign ministry said, “Such acts of terror can have no justification and must be condemned unreservedly by the civilised world.

Belgium and the Netherlands both stepped up security around Jewish schools and other buildings, while European Jewish groups urged France to catch the gunman.

“While many of the details are still emerging, it appears that this was a premeditated attack with the intention to murder Jewish children,” said Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress.

“We hope the authorities will spare no resources in apprehending the perpetrator,” he said.

“Whoever did this is looking to target the Jewish community at its weakest point, its youth, in the hopes of spreading fear throughout the community,” Kantor said.

“They will not succeed, the Jews of Europe in general and the Jews of France in particular have a long history of standing firm against hatred and violence,” he added.

The attack, he said, had “once again shown the necessity of education against anti-Semitism and intolerance.”

The Brussels-based Rabbinical Centre of Europe (RCE) said: “It is difficult to believe that the main challenge to European Jewry remains anti-Semitism and threats to their lives.”

RCE deputy director Rabbi Aryeh Goldberg added: “This act of barbarity and murder will be met with a Jewish response.

“We will bury the dead, look after the injured, and we will demand justice is pursued through the appropriate channels,” he said.