The first two weeks of March have seen synagogues and Jewish institutions struck by shootings, explosions, arson attempts and vehicle\u2011ramming incidents.<\/p>\n
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In Belgium, authorities are investigating a powerful explosion outside a historic synagogue in the city of Li\u00e8ge on Monday, which caused significant structural damage but no reported injuries. In Canada, three synagogues in different cities came under fire in separate shootings last week, heightening fears among Jewish communities already on alert.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the United States, a man was shot dead on Thursday after crashing his truck into a synagogue and its preschool in Michigan. Local reports suggest he had recently lost family members in an Israeli strike in Lebanon, though officials have not yet confirmed a motive. The incident caused extensive damage but no child casualties.<\/p>\n
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Meanwhile, Dutch officials announced on Friday that they are investigating an arson attack on a synagogue in Rotterdam after security cameras captured footage of an individual setting fire to the entrance overnight.<\/p>\n
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Responding to the spate of attacks, UN Secretary\u2011General Ant\u00f3nio Guterres issued a forceful condemnation through his spokesperson St\u00e9phane Dujarric. \u201cThe Secretary\u2011General strongly condemns these antisemitic attacks in no uncertain terms,\u201d Dujarric told reporters. \u201cHouses of worship must be safe havens for all, and attacks on them strike at the core of our shared humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Guterres called on national authorities to ensure the protection of religious sites, hold perpetrators accountable and intensify efforts to counter rising antisemitism and all forms of hatred.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
–UN\/ChannelAfrica–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":28794,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"news-type":[26],"class_list":["post-28793","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","news-type-general_news","entry"],"acf":{"short_description":"A wave of violent attacks and intimidation targeting Jewish communities across North America and Europe has sparked international alarm, with the United Nations (UN) strongly condemning what it describes as a dangerous escalation in antisemitic violence. ","published_date":"","news_description":"A wave of violent attacks and intimidation targeting Jewish communities across North America and Europe has sparked international alarm, with the United Nations (UN) strongly condemning what it describes as a dangerous escalation in antisemitic violence. ","form_embed":"","author":"","image_caption":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28793","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28795,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/28793\/revisions\/28795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"news-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.channelafrica.co.za\/channelafrica\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-type?post=28793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}