The head of the Turkish Religious Affairs Directorate, Mehmet Gormez, Orthodox Christian Patriarch Bartholomew I and Hakham Bashi (Chief Rabbi) Ishak Haleva on Saturday issued a joint declaration condemning the coup.

“From wherever and whomever it comes, terror and violence cannot be displayed as a legitimate thing and it cannot be supported,” their statement said, adding that “those who have faith within them cannot approve any killing, as murdering a human being is no different than murdering the whole humanity.”

“We hope terror will be wiped out from Turkey and the world,” the statement concluded. “May God protect our country and all humanity.”

Rabbi Haleva was the deputy to Rabbi David Asseo for seven years and became the new Hakham Bashi after his death in 2002. As a 7-year-old, he came with his father to Istanbul from Edirne, near Turkey’s western border with Bulgaria and Greece, to study in a Jewish school. As a teenager he studied in a yeshiva in Israel to become a rabbi. According to his acquaintances, Haleva was a prankster in his youth, and he still maintains a humorous, informal manner, peppering his words with folksy Hebrew and Turkish sayings.

The U.S. Embassy in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia warned its nationals Thursday of an imminent terror threat in the city. Americans were being advised to avoid using the mass transit system and to stay away from specific locations in the city. Among the sites to avoid were main streets and other crowded areas, including the streets around the Hotel Pliska.

In a similar vein, the U.S. State Department issued a travel warning for Europe following the Brussels terrorist attacks Tuesday (March 22):

“U.S. citizens should exercise vigilance when in public places or using mass transportation. Be aware of immediate surroundings and avoid crowded places. Exercise particular caution during religious holidays and at large festivals or events.”

Nationals were advised to “Stay in touch with your family members and ensure they know how to reach you in the event of an emergency.

“European governments continue to guard against terrorist attacks and conduct raids to disrupt plots,” the advisory continued.

“We work closely with our allies and will continue to share information with our European partners that will help identify and counter terrorist threats.”

A violent group of Bulgaria soccer fans interrupted what was supposed to be a “friendly” game between Ashdod and the CSFA Sofia team Monday and chased the Israeli players off the field.

Ashdod was leading 1-0 when the game was canceled because of the outburst, which followed a red card against an Ashdod player for a heavy tackle.

The “bleacherreport” website described the scene as “incredible,” with the Ashdod players, in blue and white uniforms, scrambling for an empty portion of the stands to escape the anger of the mob. At least one glass bottle hit an Israeli player during the chase.

(JTA) — “Death to Jews” and a swastika were painted on the notice board of the Central Synagogue in Sofia, Bulgaria.

The vandalism took place on June 4, the first day of the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the Sofia Globe reported.

Security cameras located outside of the synagogue recorded the vandalism; the recordings were turned over to local police, according to the newspaper.

Four people ages 19 and 20 were arrested in connection with the vandalism, the World Jewish Congress reported over the weekend, citing the Bulgarian Jewish umbrella body Shalom, the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria.

Shalom said in a statement in reaction to the incident: “The Shavuot holiday is dedicated to the time when Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai and transmitted them to the Jewish people after the Exodus from Egypt. The transmission of the Ten Commandments is the biggest act of God and a gift to the people to learn how to live in this world. Encroachment on one of the symbols of Judaism in Bulgaria is a fact that proves once again that we must all urgently start a dialogue against these acts of hatred, xenophobia and anti-Semitism in order to preserve the universal human values.”

Sofia’s Central Synagogue is one of two synagogues still operating in Bulgaria, according to the World Jewish Congress.

The terrorist who killed five Israelis and their tour bus driver and wounded 32 Israelis in Burgas in 2012 was an Algerian who worked for Hezbollah, Bulgaria said Monday.

It was one of the most unsurprising declarations of the year since all signs have pointed to Hezbollah since the attack at the Black Sea resort.

The suicide bomber trained in camps in southern Lebanon.

More than year ago, a Bulgarian minister said there was “well-grounded” evidence that Hezbollah was behind the attack, and forensic evidence and intelligence sources pointed to Hezbollah’s involvement

The street in front of the Bulgarian Embassy  in Washington has been renamed Dimitar Peshev Plaza, in honor of the man credited with halting the deportation of about 50,000 Jews.

In March 1943, Peshev, who was the deputy speaker of the Bulgarian Parliament at the time, heard of a deportation order and decided he had to stop it at all costs. He rushed to the capital city of Sophia, equipped with a petition signed by 43 members of the government. He refused to leave the Interior Ministry office until every deportation center in the country was contacted and everyone released. By the end of that day, the order was cancelled.

Peshev also tried to stop deportations of Jews in northern Greece and Macedonia, but without success.

Because of Peshev’s actions, he was stripped of his position as deputy speaker and then kicked out of Parliament. A year-and-a-half later, when the Soviet-back Communists took over the government, Peshev was tried as a war criminal and sent to jail. One of his crimes was listed as anti-Semitism.

Hezbollah terrorists smuggled from Poland the remote control and the detonating device used to set off the bomb that exploded on a Bulgarian tourists bus last summer and killed five Israelis, according to the Polish Trud daily newspaper.

Last week, Bulgaria named two native Lebanese as part of the cell that carried out the attack near the airport in Burgas, a resort city on the Black Sea.

Hassan El Hajj Hassan, who also holds Canadian citizenship, is suspected of detonating the bomb from the a remote control device,. Meliad Farah, who holds Australian citizenship, is suspecting of having put together the bomb in Bulgaria after receiving the parts that arrived on a train form Warsaw, according to Trud.

Hezbollah wired the terrorists $100,000 for their “success,” the newspaper added.

The Bulgarian Interior Ministry last week published pictures of the two wanted suspects, who it said registered at a  hotel and rented a car under fake names days before the bombing.

Bulgaria’s evidence that Hezbollah was behind the bombing helped pressure the European  Union to declare Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, but the designation applies only to the military branch and to to the political arm, which gives orders to its terrorists.