Rabbi’s Speech Sparks Vandalism at Copenhagen Church in Gunman’s Neighborhood
A Copenhagen church was vandalized in an anti-Semitic event hours before a rabbi was scheduled to speak there.
“Free Gaza” and “Close the Death Camps” was spray-painted on the door of the Anna Church in the Copenhagen district of Nørrebro overnight Sunday, the Local reported. Bricks also were thrown through some of the church’s windows.
Bent Melchior, Denmark’s former chief rabbi, was scheduled to speak at the church on Sunday about the 70th anniversary of the county’s liberation from the Nazis.
Without being totally immodest, I have to admit that it was directed at me. I am sorry that there are such idiots around, and I am full of regret that I had to be the occasion for such a thing, ” Melchior told the Danish newspaper Politiken.
The rabbi reportedly had received repeated death threats, some very specific. The lecture was held Sunday as planned.
Copenhagen Police are treating the incident as being politically motivated, according to the report.
In February, a terror attack outside a Copenhagen synagogue left a Jewish volunteer security guard dead.
The accused gunman, whose parents are Palestinian, lived in Norrebro not far from the church.
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and the protests on college campuses.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
Make a gift of any size and become a Forward member today. You’ll support our mission to tell the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.