Monday, July 23, 2012

Tragedy in Bulgaria

I've seen a lot of commentary recently about the tragedy in Bulgaria.
(CNN Story)

Please remember, Bulgaria is a safe country.  Iranian terrorists attacked innocent Israelis in Bulgaria because they knew they were more likely to be successful.  Israeli defenses are strong, and although attacks do occur in Israel, they need to be more sophisticated.  You might remember in the 1990s, Osama Bin Laden was behind numerous attacks against American embassies in Africa.  Washington Post- Bin Laden

I saw recently, a blogger reported hearing gunshots while in Sofia.  This is very unlikely, it was probably fireworks.  Bulgarians do not own guns at the same rate as Americans.  In fact, few countries have the gun ownership per capita and ease of obtaining guns legally as Americans do.
As with any other country, there are outlier Bulgarians who are hateful or insane, but Bulgaria is an overwhelmingly peaceful country.
Most Americans are not aware that many Bulgarians stood up for Jews during World War II.  The Orthodox Church leaders and many politicians spoke out against the deportation of Bulgaria's Jews to concentration camps.  As a result, the Jewish population of Bulgaria remained constant through 1945, though more than half of Jewish Bulgarians choose to emigrate to Israel by 1948.  Fate of Bulgarian Jews.  They were successful in protecting Jewish Bulgarian citizens, but antisemitism was prevalent in the country and the national leadership was joined with Hitler in the Axis of Evil.  Jews in then Bulgarian regions of Thrace and Macedonia were not saved. 
The international community- EU, USA and Israel have all stepped in to help Bulgaria make sure the people responsible for this terrible act are brought to justice.  My thoughts and prayers are with the victims and their families.

1 comment:

  1. Kate,

    There's an 18 mo old boy just listed with MOJ today. I can send the profile if you are interested. The file has not bee distributed yet, but will be later this week. No guarantees that Vesta can get it, but it wouldn't hurt to let them know if you are interested. You can email me at viviane 8 at yahoo dot com.

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