For anyone paying attention to the Jewish community’s situation in Germany, the attempted synagogue shooting in the East German city of Halle this Yom Kippur was barely a surprise.
In fact, the community was already on high alert following an attempt by a knife-wielding attacker to enter a Berlin synagogue a few days before. The suspect’s swift release from custody had enraged many people in the community, with the president of the Jewish community of Germany, Joseph Schuster, calling it “incomprehensible.”
How can a man who poses an acute threat to the Jewish community be allowed to walk free just days before the Day of Atonement, when synagogues are at their most crowded?