Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday that the shooting at a Jewish high school in the southern French city of Toulouse is a “despicable murder,” and that he is certain that French President Nicolas Sarkozy and his government “will do everything in their power to find the murderer, and I promise that Israel will help France in this task.”

The shooting on Monday — which four people were killed and another seriously wounded — took place near a synagogue on the campus of the Ozar Hatorah school, where children and their parents usually wait for a bus that takes them to the various Jewish preschools in the community. The victim, Jonathan Sandler, a Jewish studies teacher at the school, was waiting for the bus with his two children when the shooting occurred.

According to reports, a man riding a motorcycle opened fire at the children and the parents at around 8 a.m. The gunman then abandoned the motorcycle, entered the school and began shooting at the students and faculty.

Eyewitnesses said that the man switched firearms after the first one was jammed. One of the witnesses claims he shot one of the children from close range.

Police closed off the street on which the school is located, and deployed large forces the scene. Some 50 French police officers were drafted into the investigation including anti-terrorist officers, French media reported.

The Ministry of Interior has requested increased vigilance and surveillance in all of south-west France, particularly in the Jewish districts.

For more, go to haaretz.com

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