Four French airports are evacuated due to ‘bomb threats’ and Berlin synagogue is bombed as Europe remains on alert after two Swedish football fans were killed by ISIS terrorists in the wake of Hamas attacks
- This is a breaking news story, more to come…
Airports across France are being evacuated after bomb threats, local media report.
The airports of Lille, Nice, Lyon and Toulouse have received bomb threats and are being evacuated.
It comes after a Berlin synagogue was attacked with Molotov cocktails early on Wednesday, amid a rise in anti-Semitic incidents in the German capital following escalating violence in the Middle East.
The Kahal Adass Yisroel community said its synagogue in the Mitte area of the city was attacked with two firebombs.
Police confirmed the incident.
“Unknowns threw two Molotov cocktails off the street,” the community wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
On Wednesday morning, dozens of police officers investigated in front of the synagogue.
The entire street next to the building was cordoned off and closed to traffic.
Germany’s leading Jewish group said two people were involved in the attack, but gave no further details.
“We are all shocked by this terrorist attack,” the Central Council of Jews said in a statement.
‘The families from the neighborhood around the synagogue in particular are shocked and restless. Words become actions. Hamas’ ideology of extermination of everything Jewish also has an effect in Germany.’
The building complex of the Kahal Adass Yisroel community in central Berlin houses a synagogue, a kindergarten, a yeshiva school and a community center.
Police also said riots took place overnight between Muslim immigrants and police in the Neukoelln and Kreuzberg neighborhoods and at Berlin’s famous Brandenburg Gate, leaving several officers injured.
Following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7 and the subsequent war in Gaza, police increased security at Jewish institutions in Berlin and across Germany.
Nevertheless, Israeli flags hoisted in a sign of solidarity in front of city halls across the country have been torn down and burned.
Several buildings in Berlin where Jews live had the Star of David painted on doors and walls.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday strongly condemned the attack on the synagogue, saying: “We will never accept attacks on Jewish institutions.”
Speaking to reporters during a trip to Egypt, he said Germany will not accept violent and anti-Semitic protests and that protection of Jewish institutions will be further increased.
“I am personally outraged by what some of them are shouting and doing, and I am convinced that German citizens have the same opinion as I do,” he said.
“We stand united for the protection, including of Jews,” he added.
This is a breaking news story, more to come…