In an echo some likely thought never to hear again, words spoken by rabbinic sages generations before in Eastern Europe were reiterated by Barcelona Chief Rabbi Meir Bar-Hen in a blunt warning to his Jewish congregants to flee Europe for Israel.
The rabbi shared his remarks with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) in an interview this past weekend, saying he told his congregants plainly, “Europe is lost” to the threat from radical Islamic terror.
At least 14 people died and more than 130 others were injured, including at least a dozen who are in critical condition, after two terror attacks carried out on Thursday and Friday in Barcelona and Cambrils. Of the 12-member terrorist cell that carried out the attacks, five are dead and another six are in custody; one is still at large.
Still, there is much to be thankful for: a “work accident” caused a premature explosion that destroyed the butane tanks with which the terrorist group was planning to blow up one, and possibly two more targets in the Barcelona area.
The Islamic State terror organization (ISIS) claimed the attackers were “soldiers” of the group responding to the group’s call to attack member nations of the coalition forces targeting the group in Syria.
But in fact, radical Islamic terrorists have targeted Western European nations for several years already, Rabbi Bar-Hen pointed out.
The Barcelona chief rabbi has urged his congregants to start buying property in Israel if they have not already done so.
“Europe is lost,” he reiterated. “Don’t make the same mistake as the Algerian Jews, and the Jews in Venezuela…”