Memorials for slain teens planned in Canada, around the world

Jewish communities across the globe are holding memorial gatherings for the three murdered Israeli teens.

In Toronto, a memorial service for the slain teens will be held July 7 at 7:30 p.m. at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470  Glencairn Ave., sponsored by UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and CIJA.

The Jewish Federation of Ottawa is sponsoring a service that will be held on July 3 at Congregation Machzikei Hadas, 2310 Virginia Drive at 7:30 p.m. Rafael Barak, Ambassador of Israel, will speak. 

In France, the CRIF umbrella group of Jewish communities and organizations is planning a silent vigil for July 3 to remember Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel and Eyal Yifrach near the Israeli Embassy in Paris.

“A structure will be erected where those who are saddened and shocked by the killings may light candles and write condolences for the families,”  read the CRIF statement, which was issued jointly with the Consistoire, the organ of French Jewry responsible for religious services. The book of condolences will be given to the Israeli Embassy and sent to the families, CRIF said.

In Marseille, home to France’s second largest Jewish community, approximately 100 Jews met at the city’s largest synagogue for special prayers for the three teens on Monday, hours after their bodies were discovered in a shallow grave north of Hebron. A similar gathering took place in the Grande Synagogue de la Victoire in Paris.

Israel has blamed Hamas for the murders, which Israeli investigators believe happened on June 12 shortly after the three teens were abducted in the Gush Etzion, a settlement bloc located south of Jerusalem.

The Jewish Community of Madrid invited members to a demonstration on the evening of July 1 evening in front of the Israeli Embassy to “express their pain over killings and demand the eradication of the Hamas terrorist group,” the community wrote in a statement.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews said it will convene a vigil outside the Israeli Embassy  in London on Wednesday to mourn “the tragic and senseless murder of three teenagers.”

In Argentina and Brazil, Jewish communities also announced vigils to be held today in Buenos Aires and Sao Paolo. The Argentine Jewish group DAIA is organizing its rally opposite the AMIA building, the site of a 1994 terrorist bombing that killed 85 and injured hundreds.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel called the murders a “detestable act.”

Catherine Ashton, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said in a statement Monday that the EU condemned the killings of the teens in “the strongest terms.”

“We express our sincere condolences to their families and friends and share their grief,” she said, while also calling “for restraint of all parties concerned in order not to further aggravate the fragile situation on the ground.”