Subscribe to Print Edition | Sat., February 14, 2009 Shvat 20, 5769 | | Israel Time: 11:24 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Joy of Giving Travel Week's End Anglo File
Last update - 13:12 12/01/2009
France vows to punish assailants who hurled firebombs at Paris synagogue
By The Associated Press
Tags: israel, Israel News, hamas 

Vandals in France hurled Molotov cocktails at a synagogue in a suburb north of Paris amid tensions in France over Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip, French Police said Monday.

The police headquarters of the Seine-Saint-Denis region said the gasoline
bombs damaged a restaurant next door but caused no injuries. A window was
s
Advertisement
hattered in the restaurant and the wall blackened.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said in a statement that Sunday's
nighttime attack in Saint-Denis was "cowardly and inadmissible."

"Everything will be done to find those responsible for this
attack and to bring them to justice for this intolerable act," she said.

It was the latest in a series of anti-Semitic incidents in France since Israel began its offensive in Gaza against Hamas militants December 27.

Assaults against Jews and arson attacks on Jewish congregations have been reported in France, Sweden and Britain.

Assailants last week rammed a burning car into the gates of a synagogue in Toulouse, in southwest France.

France has Western Europe's largest Jewish and Muslim communities and a history of anti-Semitic violence flaring when tensions in the Middle East are high. In 2002, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe.

President Nicolas Sarkozy warned in a statementlast week that France would not tolerate violence linked to the Gaza crisis. A day earlier, his interior minister said she was concerned about the prospect of contagion and met with the heads of the two main Muslim and Jewish groups and police officials to stress the need to "preserve national unity."

Damage to the synagogue in Toulouse was limited to a blackened gate, and there were no injuries even though a rabbi was giving a course to adults inside, authorities said. They said unlighted gasoline bombs were also found in a car nearby and in the synagogue's yard. A local Jewish leader, Armand Partouche, said he believed the assailants had planned to torch the synagogue, but fled when the building's alarm went off.

"It could have been very, very serious," Partouche said in a telephone interview. "There were people inside; there could have been deaths."

He said Jewish leaders are asking Toulouse authorities for reinforced security for the city's synagogues.

"We really fear that anti-Semitism will spring up again and that the current conflict will be transposed to our beautiful French republic," he said.

Separately, the French government has been one of the more active international bodies pushing for a cease-fire deal between Israel and the Hamas-ruled Faza Strip.

Related articles:
  • Tens of thousands attend pro-Israel rallies in Europe, N.Y.
  • Gaza offensive spurs rise in anti-Semitic incidents across Europe
    • Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Knesset foibles
    A list of the top 33 most embarrassing moments in the history of Israel's Knesset
    Casualties of war
    Israel says 2/3 of Palestinians killed in the Gaza fighting were militants
      1.   France....Again 13:47  |  The Phone Guy 12/01/09
      2.   This is predictable in France. 14:25  |  Matt C 12/01/09
      3.   Antisemitism on rise in world, not just France 14:28  |  A 12/01/09
      4.   A - in France - respect for the Jewish community 18:13  |  SDHD 12/01/09
      5.   France jews 22:07  |  tom 12/01/09
      6.   French-bashing 23:37  |  Didier 12/01/09
      7.   Too bad there is no god 09:35  |  Phil E. Drifter 13/01/09
      8.   #5 FRANCE JEWS 19:44  |  RAPHAEL CORDOVERO 13/01/09
      9.   #6, #8 living in France as a jew 20:43  |  tom 13/01/09
      10.   its not FAZA 22:42  |  hamas 16/01/09
      11.   Just as Islam was tarnished by 9/11 04:41  |  JG 17/01/09
     Haaretz Hot Topics
    Israel 2009 election results: Voter breakdown
    Israel goes to the polls
    Conflict in Gaza
    Israel vs. Hamas
    Iran: Nuclear and regional ambitions
    More Headlines
    11:02 Hamas: Setback delays Gaza truce, talks ongoing
    11:03 U.S., EU indicate they prefer Kadima-Likud unity government in Israel
    08:07 IAF hits Gaza weapon-making facilities, smuggling tunnels
    04:41 Two Israelis, 9/11 widow among dead in plane crash near Buffalo
    08:33 Top 33 most embarrassing moments in Knesset history
    07:07 Israel, Iran liable to clash in 2009 over nukes, says U.S. intel chief
    07:31 Yossi Verter / A decade later, Netanyahu is Israel's latest king of comeback
    17:37 Under a white flag, darkly
    07:30 U.K. anti-Semitism on the rise after Israel's Gaza operation
    00:09 ADL chief: Pope Bendedict's condemnation of Holocaust denial not enough
    07:26 Police investigation may bar Lieberman from treasury post
    16:44 14-year-old Palestinian killed by Israel Border Police in Hebron
    17:55 Dutch lawmaker banned from U.K. to take anti-Koran film on 'world tour'
    15:03 Cyprus unloads weapons arsenal from Iran ship allegedly running arms to Hamas
    08:28 'I was accused of being everything from Israeli spy to Hamas militant'
    Previous Editions
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    Spring Specials-Dan Hotels
    Jerusalem from 179$. Tel-Aviv from 223$. Herzliya from 336$
    Summer in Israel
    Israeli style - Tzofim Chetz V'Keshet 2009
    Passover Vacations
    The BEST Passover Vacations around ? Mexico, Arizona and Florida
    SURF RAMBAM
    Keep current about new-wave medical care, education and research.
    Camp Kimama Israel 2009
    The best place for your children this summer
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Jewish Singles Personal Ads
    Find the love of your life on JDate.com
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | | Israel 2009 election results
    Site rules | Makom: Engaging on Israel | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved