Obama Still Silent on Danish Terror Attacks

AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais

Even after Danish police called the recent attacks against Jews in Copenhagen “terrorist” acts, President Obama has yet to make a statement condemning the deadly attacks carried out by obvious Islamists.

The State Department has denounced the attacks, but Obama has stayed silent. Obama’s silence comes a week after he stated that the Jewish deli shooting in Paris was a “random act” of crime, not a planned terrorist attack against Jews, though Islamists who helped carry out the attack stated that the deli attack against Jews was planned.

Fox News reports more on the attacks in Copenhagen:

Danish police said Monday that they had arrested two men suspected of helping the gunman who carried out attacks on a free speech event and a synagogue over the weekend.

A defense lawyer for one of two men says both have been jailed for 10 days, following a custody hearing Monday.

Anders Rohde said prosecutors had asked a judge to place them in four weeks of solitary confinement and that the relatively short period of detention suggests the case against the men is “thin.”

Rohde spoke to reporters after a four-hour custody hearing held behind closed doors.

Earlier, Michael Juul Eriksen, the other defense attorney, told reporters that the men deny allegations of giving the gunman shelter and getting rid of a weapon.

A statement from investigators said the two men “are charged with helping the perpetrator with advice and deeds.”

Authorities have not identified the gunman, but have described him as a 22-year-old Dane with a history of violence and gang connections. Denmark’s security service said he may have been inspired by the terror attacks by Islamic extremists in Paris that killed 17 people.

The gunman was released from jail just two weeks ago and might have become radicalized there last summer, a source close to the Danish terror investigation told The Associated Press on Monday.

Two Danish sources close to the investigation confirmed to the AP that the gunman was named Omar Abdel Hamid El-Hussein. Several Danish media have already named him.

One source told the AP that the gunman had been in pre-trial detention for a long time but was released two weeks ago. He also said the corrections authority had alerted Danish security service PET last year after they noticed worrisome changes in his behavior. He wouldn’t elaborate.

Police spokesman Joergen Skov said Monday the gunman visited an Internet cafe late Saturday, about six-and-a-half hours after the first attack. Police raided the facility on Sunday and detained four people, including the two men arraigned on Monday, Skov said. The other two were released.

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