World Jewish Congress ‘shocked and dismayed’ by attack on Gdansk synagogue

NEW YORK- The World Jewish Congress today strongly condemned the attack on a synagogue in the Polish port of Gdansk, in which a heavy rock was hurled through the window of the women’s gallery at the end of Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar. 
 
“The attack on Gdansk’s New Synagogue is shocking and dismaying in itself, made all the more distressing by the fact that it took place on Yom Kippur, evoking the terrible tragedies that occurred in German-occupied Poland during the years of the Holocaust,” said WJC President Ronald S. Lauder said.
 
“We trust that the local police authorities in Gdansk are investigating this matter with the diligence it deserves and that the perpetrators of this cowardly act will be swiftly brought to justice. We appreciate Gdansk Mayor Pawel Adamowicz’s prompt and reassuring response and hope that reflects the attitudes of Polish authorities generally,” Lauder said. “In recent years, Jews in Poland have been able to worship with a sense of security, and we hope that this attack does not herald negative change in that positive environment.”
 
The perpetrator has been identified on camera and the police are said to be dealing with the attack as a matter of the highest urgency.
 
In his statement, Gdansk Mayor Adamowicz referenced his city’s recent past as the birthplace of the anti-Communist trade union and said: “I categorically reject the behavior of the perpetrators and count on them being rapidly caught. I apologize to the Jewish community of Gdansk. In the city of Freedom and Solidarity, we respect all religions and do not accept acts of hooliganism.”