ŽUPLJANIN: TERRORIST ATTACK IN SYDNEY IS AN ALARM FOR BiH AS WELL

BANJA LUKA, December 15 /SRNA/ - Security expert Slobodan Župljanin warned that the terrorist attack in Australia during the marking of the Jewish holiday Hanukkah is an alarm for BiH as well, given that particularly pronounced negative connotations toward Israel and the Jewish people exist in the Federation of BiH due to the conflict in the Middle East.

Župljanin stressed that one must not "bury one's head in the sand" and say that this happened somewhere far away. "This is an alarm not only for BiH, but for Europe as well, because forces advocating solutions to Europe's problems through war are becoming increasingly aggressive," Župljanin pointed out. He noted that the terrorist attack in Sydney is a consequence of global developments related to the Middle East conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, which has created an extremely negative climate toward the Jewish people. Župljanin emphasized that such a climate has also been transferred to BiH, citing as an example the cancellation of the Congress of European Rabbis in Sarajevo. "This indicates a perception that everything connected to Jews is unacceptable at this moment, and that dissatisfaction should be expressed in every possible way, even up to terrorist acts. This is a dangerous climate and a dangerous situation. We live in a time when developments from the global level are rapidly transferred to the local level, and that is why everyone should be concerned—not only in BiH, but throughout the entire world," Župljanin said. He stated that in BiH there are still strong ideas that promote hate speech and the creation of incident situations, particularly coming from the Federation of BiH, and that security services should take all measures to prevent any incident, especially with the upcoming holiday period. "A few 'hawks,' holding high state and political positions in BiH, are the leaders of such attitudes and conditions, and therefore it is up to the competent security services in BiH to carefully monitor the security situation, literally on a daily basis, and to do everything necessary to prevent any incident," Župljanin said. He assessed that the danger of potential attacks is greater during holidays, as indicated by yesterday's terrorist attack in Australia, which occurred during the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah. "Peace has no price, and it is the obligation of everyone to do everything possible to preserve peace and security," Župljanin concluded. The terrorist attack on a beach in Sydney occurred yesterday. According to the latest information, 16 people were killed and dozens were injured.