Hania, Greece – Members of the Jewish communities in Athens and other areas of Greece travelled to Crete this weekend in order to attend Saturday’s service at the Hania synagogue that recently became a target for two anti-Semitic arson attacks on January 5 and January 16. Roughly 100 people arrived to show their support for the Jewish community on Crete and protest against the attacks.
Subscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
In another show of support, they also announced that the synagogue on Crete will be twinned with that of Athens and would receive financial assistance from the Athens synagogue on an annual basis.
At 12:30 on Saturday, those at the synagogue marched to the Hania town hall and met deputy mayor Aris Papadogiannis in order to present him with a resolution.
The Hania synagogue, which suffered extensive damage in the double arsonist attacks, is one of the oldest synagogues existing in Greece and has been listed as a monument. In addition to structural damage suffered by the building, the two fires also destroyed roughly 2,500 books, some of them rare, computers and electronic files.
Police later arrested two Britons, a Greek-American and a Greek man as suspects in the affair, while a U.S. national is wanted and still at large. One of the Britons, aged 32, has been remanded in custody and the other three released with conditions.
What does it say about us that a story abour r tropper gets 87 comments and 10 min but this story doesn’t get one
Nice to see a larger community that mobilizes to help those in need during such a tragedy. Yasher Koach.