Security expert Slobodan Župljanin warned that the terrorist attack in Australia during the celebration of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah is also a serious alarm for Bosnia and Herzegovina, given the strongly expressed negative sentiment toward Israel and the Jewish people in the Federation of BiH due to the conflict in the Middle East.
Župljanin stressed that one must not “bury their head in the sand” and say that such an event happened far away.
“This is a warning not only for BiH, but for Europe as well, because there are increasingly aggressive forces advocating that Europe’s problems be solved through war,” he pointed out.
He emphasized that the attack in Sydney is a consequence of global developments related to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which has created an extremely negative climate toward the Jewish people.
Župljanin noted that this climate has been transferred to BiH, citing as an example the cancellation of the Congress of European Rabbis that was supposed to be held in Sarajevo.
“This reflects the perception that anything related to Jews is currently unacceptable, and that dissatisfaction should be expressed in every possible form — even through terrorist acts. It is a dangerous climate and a dangerous situation. We live at a time when global tensions quickly spill over into local environments, and because of that everyone should be concerned — not only in BiH, but around the world,” Župljanin said.
He added that ideas promoting hate speech and creating incidents remain strong in BiH, particularly coming from the Federation of BiH, and that security agencies must take all necessary measures to prevent any incident, especially with the holiday season approaching.
“A few ‘hawks,’ politically and institutionally highly positioned in BiH, are leading such tendencies. Therefore, it is up to the competent security services in BiH to monitor the security situation very carefully — literally on a daily basis — and to do everything necessary to prevent any incident,” Župljanin stressed.
He assessed that the risk of potential attacks is higher during holidays, which is also illustrated by yesterday’s terrorist attack in Australia carried out during the Hanukkah celebration.
“Peace has no price, and it is everyone’s responsibility to do everything possible to preserve peace and security,” Župljanin concluded.
The terrorist attack occurred yesterday on a beach in Sydney.
According to the latest reports, 16 people were killed and dozens were injured.
Source: RTRS
