Dear Friends,

The 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht should be an especially poignant reminder of the deadly result of bystander silence in the face of hatred, persecution and violence. Kirstallnacht, in retrospect, was the sentinel event signallng Nazi intent to destroy the Jews of the world. In short, it signalled genocidal intent.

The ongoing Kristallnacht in Egypt against its Coptic minority is reminiscent of Germany in November 1938. In 1938 Nazi Germany, “Kristallnacht” first appeared to be a spontaneous outbreak of ethnic tensions, but was in fact a premeditated and organized plan to intimidate and threaten its Jewish minority. The fact that these violent demonstrations against the Jews occurred in multiple places at the same time suggests direction and organized intent.

Similarly, the current spike in violent attacks against the Coptic minority was preceded by an increasing climate of organized intimidation and persecution.

We in the Jerusalem Cener for Genocide Prevention (JC4GP) call for the following:

  1. Redefining such persecution and violence against Christians, and for that matter, all groups defined by their national, religioius, ethnic or racial identity as totally unacceptable
  2. Establishing an international norm of zero tolerance for such persecution
  3. Preventing such acts of perseuction and violence by preventing the incitement to such violence.

The time to act is now. Please reply to tamaremily@gmail.com to become involved in the work of the Jerusalem Center for Genocide Prevention.

Tamar Pileggi and Professor Elihu D Richter MD MPH
Jerusalem Center for Genocide Prevention

Sent by:
Professor Elihu D Richter MD MPH
Occupational and Environmental Medicine
Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine
POB 12272 Jerusalem Israel
elihudrichter@gmail.com

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