The latest such incident occurred when Elie Rosen, a local Jewish community leader in Vienna, was nearly assaulted in a suspected anti-Semitic attack last week when an unidentified man attempted to wound him with a wooden club.

 Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

Rosen was not injured in the attack. Police said that a 31-year-old Syrian refugee was later arrested in connection with the incident in the city Graz.

And earlier this month, a synagogue in Graz was found vandalized with the words "Free Palestine" spray painted on the front entrance of the building, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

The city, located about 80 miles southwest of Vienna, has an estimated Jewish population of 150 members.

Karoline Edtstadler, Austrian Minister for European Policy, said the incident prompted her to act and work on measures to combat anti-Semitism.

An outline of the plan seeks to establish a new department dealing with such instances within the Austrian Chancellery Office.

A new online platform is also under development and will allow Internet users to report any "anti-Semitic and/or anti-Zionist incident" across the country.

Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!

Edtstadler also confirmed that Israeli descendants of Holocaust victims will soon be allowed to obtain Austrian citizenship.

"Citizenship applications will be accepted from September 1," she said.

Previously, only the survivors themselves had the right to obtain citizenship. In addition, it was only offered to those who had left Austria before 1945.

This article was originally published by i24NEWS.

The post Austrian government developing plan to fight anti-Semitism appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

The slaughter merited brief reports by international news outlets, then quickly faded from the spotlight – not surprising in a year where attacks on places of worship occurred with relentless frequency. Hundreds of worshippers and many clergy were killed at churches, mosques, synagogues, and temples.

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

A two-week span in January illustrated the scope of this somber phenomenon. In Thailand, a group of separatist insurgents attacked a Buddhist temple, killing the abbot and one of his fellow monks. In the Philippines, two suicide attackers detonated bombs during a Mass in a Roman Catholic cathedral on the largely Muslim island of Jolo, killing 23 and wounding about 100. Three days later, an attacker hurled a grenade into a mosque in a nearby city, killing two Muslim religion teachers.

The worst was yet to come.

On March 15, a gunman allegedly fueled by anti-Muslim hatred attacked two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, killing 51 people. The man arrested for the killings had earlier published a manifesto espousing a white supremacist philosophy and detailing his plans to attack the mosques.

At a national remembrance service two weeks later, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said New Zealanders had learned the stories of those impacted by the attacks – many of them recently arrived immigrants.

"They were stories of those who were born here, grew up here, or who had made New Zealand their home. Who had sought refuge or sought a better life for themselves or their families," she said. "They will remain with us forever. They are us."

On Easter Sunday – April 21 – bombs shattered the celebratory services at two Catholic churches and a Protestant church in Sri Lanka.

Other targets, in coordinated suicide attacks by local militants, included three luxury hotels. But Christian worshippers at the three churches – including dozens of children – accounted for a large majority of the roughly 260 people killed.

The victims at St. Anthony's Shrine in Colombo included 11-month-old Avon Gomez, his two older brothers, and his parents.

The day's biggest death toll – more than 100 – was at St. Sebastian's, a Catholic church in the seaside town of Negombo. It's known as "Little Rome" due to its abundance of churches and its role as the hub of Sri Lanka's small Catholic community.

The attacks surprised many in the predominantly Buddhist country, where the Christian community totals about 7% of the population and has long avoided involvement in bitter ethnic and religious divides.

Six days after Easter, more than 9,400 miles (15,000 kilometers) from Sri Lanka, a gunman opened fire inside a synagogue in Poway, California, as worshippers celebrated the last day of Passover. A 60-year-old woman was killed; an 8-year-old girl and two men, including the Chabad of Poway's rabbi, were wounded.

Some congregation members said the slain woman, Lori Kaye, blocked the shooter by jumping in front of Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein, whose two index fingers were injured.

The man charged with murder and attempted murder in the attack, John T. Earnest, could face the death penalty if he is convicted of murder, although prosecutors haven't yet said whether they will pursue capital punishment.

At a court hearing in September, prosecutors played a 12-minute recording of Earnest calmly telling a 911 dispatcher that he had just shot up a synagogue to save white people from Jews.

The attack occurred exactly six months after 11 people were killed at a Pittsburgh synagogue in the deadliest assault on Jews in US history.

An additional anti-Semitic bloodbath was narrowly averted in October when an armed assailant tried to blast his way into a synagogue in Halle, Germany, where scores of worshippers were attending services on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in Judaism.

Unable to break through a locked door, the gunman went on a rampage in nearby streets, killing two people and wounding two others.

Authorities said the 27-year-old German man who has confessed to the attack had posted an anti-Semitic screed before the assault and broadcast the shooting live on a popular video game site.

In contrast to the Poway and Halle attacks, where authorities have identified suspects and motives, some of the worst attacks on houses of worship unfold without arrests or claims of responsibility.

In October, for example, more than 60 people were killed in a bombing during Friday prayers at a mosque in the village of Jodari in eastern Afghanistan.

No group claimed responsibility and authorities offered conflicting explanations of how the bombing was carried out.

One common element of all the attacks: Dismay that many people of faith now have reason for apprehension as they gather for worship.

"No one should have to fear going to their place of worship," said California Gov. Gavin Newsom after the Poway attack. "No one should be targeted for practicing the tenets of their faith."

The post Houses of worship attacked with deadly frequency in 2019 appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

Hanson Larkin, 25, was in an Orlando federal court the same day, charged with making threats through interstate communication to, according to police, a Jewish man that included: "If meeting me for five seconds is not worth the lives of multiple Jews then I have no other option" and "There's a Chabad near me. And Amtrak has no security for weapons. Don't make me make a choice they'll regret."

Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook and Twitter

A Jewish man, Lizardo Rivas, 44, allegedly rejected romantic advances from Larkin and notified authorities of the threats.

Rivas said he has communicated with Larkin for two years, and that the suspect has expressed bigotry toward Jews and had suicidal thoughts.

Larkin appeared in court again on Tuesday and was denied bail. He could face up to five years behind bars if convicted.

Also on Friday, a 45-year-old man in Daytona Beach, Fla., was charged with making threats, including against Jews.

Leo Arong Jr. posted the threats as comments on YouTube during a livestream of "PBS NewsHour." They included, "I hate jews because I am an inbred LOSER. We have to kill jews in order for LOSERS like me to feel relevant. Thank you."

He was charged with making written threats to kill or harm people related to a mass shooting or act of terrorism and was transported to the Volusia County Branch Jail. He was denied bail.

Reprinted with permission from JNS.org.

The post Florida man arrested for threatening to shoot Jews appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.

He is the most senior Trump administration official yet to visit the site.

"We must continue to stamp out anti-Semitism & all other forms of hate. Rabbi [Yisroel] Goldstein is a pillar of strength for his community/our nation. A very moving visit. He & others acted heroically. I shared the Administration's heartfelt sorrow for Poway's loss & thanked him for his message to turn a hateful act into a lesson on tolerance," he tweeted.

Lori Gilbert-Kaye, 60, was killed in the attack and three others injured, including the founding rabbi of the Chabad center and an 8-year-old girl.

An off-duty Border Patrol agent who was in the synagogue, which is located about a half-hour outside of San Diego, fired at the suspect, 19-year-old John Earnest, hitting his car. The gunman fled the scene but was soon apprehended without incident after he called 911 to admit to committing the crime, in addition to providing his location.

San Diego County Sheriff Bill Gore said Earnest was armed with an "AR-type assault weapon," and added that he was being interviewed by the FBI and detectives.

The attack occurred exactly six months after the deadliest shooting in American Jewish history, when a gunman killed 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life*Or L'Simcha Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

Earnest pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to murder and hate-crime charges. Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of life without parole or the death penalty, despite California's moratorium on capital punishment.

The post Greenblatt visits Chabad of Poway days after fatal shooting appeared first on www.israelhayom.com.