Subscribe to Print Edition | Mon., October 09, 2006 Tishrei 17, 5767 | | Israel Time: 13:38 (EST+6)
Haaretz israel news English
Search site 
  Back to Homepage
Print Edition
Diplomacy
Defense Opinion National Arts & Leisure Anglo File Sports Travel  
Magazine Week's End
Q&A
Business Underground Jewish World Real Estate Advertising  
Bookmark to del.icio.us
The Jerusalem Synagogue in Prague. (Archives)
Last update - 04:45 08/10/2006
Czech officials: Synagogue plot may be linked to Oslo attacks
By Haaretz Service and Reuters

PRAGUE - Czech security services were investigating Friday a possible link between fresh terror threats made by radical Muslims to kill Jews in Prague and the arrest of a Pakistani citizen around two weeks ago in Oslo.

Islamic extremists planned to kidnap dozens of Jews in Prague and hold them hostage before murdering them, the daily Mlada Fronta Dnes reported on Friday.

The Pakistani man is suspected of having been involved in a group that shot at a synagogue in Oslo, as well as planning an attack on Israel's ambassador to Norway, Miriam Shomrat.

Advertisement

The Czech Republic's leading newspaper quoted unidentified sources close to intelligence agencies as saying the captives would have been held in a Prague synagogue while the captors made broad demands that they knew could not be fulfilled.

When those demands - which were not specified by the sources - were not met, the extremists would blow up the building, killing all who were inside, the paper added.

The paper, which gave other few details, did not say whether any arrests were made and did not specify the identities of the extremists.

Czech Chief Rabbi Ephraim Sidon said that the attack had been planned against the Jerusalem Synagogue in central Prague, and not against the highly-concentrated tourist attractions in the old Jewish Quarter.

On September 23 the government deployed armed guards around dozens of buildings and on the streets in the Czech capital after security services issued a warning that an unspecified attack was imminent.

Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and government officials have since refused to divulge details of what kind of attack they feared in Prague.

"I am not authorized to provide any information in this case," the paper quoted Topolanek as saying when asked about the information given by the sources.

"Concurrent with the government decision, I only continue to insist that the measures and the extent of information supplied to the public were, and are in proportion to the information obtained [by intelligence officials] and to the threat."

The Czech Republic has a small military unit in Afghanistan and military police instructors in Iraq.

Prague has not been a target of terrorist attacks in the past, although strict security precautions were taken several years ago to protect the downtown headquarters of U.S. government-funded Radio Free Europe.

The country's once-flourishing Jewish community was decimated during World War Two.

Bookmark to del.icio.us
The baboon method
Ex-Comverse CEO Kobi Alexander uses primate tactics to free himself from a mess in Namibia.
A crooked line
Tzachi Hanegbi's response to claims of political appointments is 'everybody did it.'
  1.   DEFEAT IN LEBANON LIFTS TERRORISTS` MORALE. G-D SAVE THE JEWS)) 09:34  |  -VOICE of MOSHIACH)) 06/10/06
  2.   why we need israel 10:37  |  John Smith 06/10/06
  3.   And I thought Islamists, and their left oriented supporters in 11:16  |  Shlomzion 06/10/06
  4.   Thank God this evil wasn`t committed 11:22  |  Gina 06/10/06
  5.   This disturbing report & yet Ha`Aretz chooses 11:28  |  Ari ben Yisrael 06/10/06
  6.   If the IDF had attacked a mosque..... 12:10  |  Hastaroth 06/10/06
  7.   WHEN IT DOES HAPPEN???? 12:34  |  Brant 06/10/06
  8.   Disproportionality 12:38  |  ScotGuy 06/10/06
  9.   To Gina,4, 12:55  |  Jozef 06/10/06
  10.   HOW IS IT, THAT MUSLIMS ARE IN CHECK REPUBLIC? 13:27  |  Soldier Sveika 06/10/06
  11.   Indraya - Islam is LOVE 13:42  |  Jeroen de Jager 06/10/06
  12.   stop the occupation 13:52  |  farid 06/10/06
  13.   Why does Islamic extremism exist? 13:59  |  Brian 06/10/06
  14.   The usual suspects "the unidentified sources" 14:10  |  BB 06/10/06
  15.   clickfool 14:11  |  Harry 06/10/06
  16.   It Seems That Some Islamists Are Hell Bent On Making WWIII! 14:14  |  Sam The Sham 06/10/06
  17.   Prague 14:32  |  * BEN JABO 06/10/06
  18.   Thank goodness they didn`t succeed. 14:34  |  Stephen Murray 06/10/06
  19.   # 11- Jager- NO ! Islam means SUBMISSION , not love ! 14:42  |  Klaudia 06/10/06
  20.   Just another Mossad trick. 14:42  |  Clickfool 06/10/06
  21.   Brian (12) and Farid (11) 14:43  |  Zionist 06/10/06
  22.   To #1 14:50  |  G.RON 06/10/06
  23.   To Farid 14:54  |  Josh 06/10/06
  24.   To BB 14:57  |  Josh 06/10/06
  25.   clickfool, please help us!!! 15:02  |  barmitzvah boy`s dad 06/10/06
  26.   gee brian, 15:05  |  barmitzvah boy`s dad 06/10/06
  27.   To Moron in #12 15:05  |  Ak 06/10/06
  28.   Why are you surprised, Hastaroth 15:06  |  Jacob Blues 06/10/06
  29.   12 # Stop occupation 15:08  |  Nora 06/10/06
  30.   THERE IT IS!!! 15:09  |  Brant 06/10/06
  31.   to farid - re stop the occupation 15:11  |  barmitzvah boy`s dad 06/10/06
  32.   #20 Clickfool: just another Jew-baiter 15:23  |  Paul Freedman 06/10/06
  33.   Where is Muslim condemnation of heinous acts by adherrants? 15:24  |  B 06/10/06
  34.   Information or paranoïac intoxication ?... 15:30  |  Yankelowitz 06/10/06
  35.   HA`ARETZ EDITORS: WHERE ARE YOU??? 15:34  |  Brant 06/10/06
  36.   Hmmmm, 15:36  |  James 06/10/06
  37.   Muslims Continuing the Nazi Program. 15:39  |  Bimmer 06/10/06
  38.   yo clickfool 15:50  |  Gabriel 06/10/06
  39.   Was Muhammad a murderer? 16:00  |  James 06/10/06
  40.   To the fool of click 16:00  |  ScotGuy 06/10/06
  41.   SAVE THE JEWS 16:02  |  George 06/10/06
  42.   Farid 16:12  |  Jane 06/10/06
  43.   To # 3 - Completely irrelevant ! 16:13  |  Yankelowitz 06/10/06
  44.   Josh 16:14  |  MR 06/10/06
  45.   To James #39 16:15  |  BB 06/10/06
  46.   to 33 16:22  |  * TALKBACK OBSERVER* 06/10/06
  47.   Interesting 16:23  |  MR 06/10/06
  48.   And they wonder 16:31  |  Danite 06/10/06
  49.   to Klaudia # 19 16:38  |  yo 06/10/06
  50.   Sorry clickool did not go well 16:45  |  Stranger 06/10/06
  51.   #10 Soldier Sveika 16:48  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  52.   cooperation between EU polices? 16:48  |  jean marie 06/10/06
  53.   Mlada Fronta Dnes wrote something else 16:49  |  Jaroslav Secansky 06/10/06
  54.   #12 farid 16:50  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  55.   Brant This Type Of Thinking By Murray... 16:51  |  Sam The Sham 06/10/06
  56.   #16 Sam the Sham 16:53  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  57.   #39 James 16:54  |  MR 06/10/06
  58.   #18 No, Stephen, 16:56  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  59.   Farid long time no see body 16:58  |  Stranger 06/10/06
  60.   ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION OF PEACE! 17:00  |  Jake 06/10/06
  61.   Brant # 35 It makes me sick too.... 17:00  |  Klaudia 06/10/06
  62.   #34 Yankelowitz 17:02  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  63.   #13 Brian - Very lame excuse 17:03  |  ChanahS 06/10/06
  64.   #37 Bimmer 17:04  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  65.   #39 James 17:08  |  Yonatan 06/10/06
  66.   Let me guess...this isnt anti-semitism, its "anti zionism" 17:10  |  SHIMON 06/10/06
  67.   #40 ScotGuy: You`re probably right on all counts. 17:13  |  Clickfool 06/10/06
  68.   Farid - it`s a tired old line, give it up #12 17:52  |  William 06/10/06
  69.   lets put all muslims in muslim only areas 17:55  |  chaim 06/10/06
  70.   Clickfool - the Mossad thanks you #20 18:00  |  William 06/10/06
  71.   Will all "resistances" end with the occupation? - Farid #12 18:09  |  William 06/10/06
  72.   To Yankelowitz-You are just ignorant 18:12  |  Eli 06/10/06
  73.   *ben Jabo 18:13  |  Jasmine Murphy 06/10/06
  74.   Just another clickrubbish 18:15  |  Jasmine Murphy 06/10/06
  75.   Religion of Terrorism 19:40  |  Matze 06/10/06
  76.   Stop the Killing 20:57  |  Pro-Jewish 06/10/06
  77.   Matze WE are sorry 21:04  |  gus 06/10/06
  78.   James shame on you 21:20  |  gus 06/10/06
  79.   to39 22:55  |  * TALKBACK OBSERVER* 06/10/06
  80.   stephen murray 23:52  |  bev 06/10/06
  81.   Brant 00:01  |  bev 07/10/06
  82.   To Farid 00:10  |  Ron 07/10/06
  83.   To everyone re: Clickfool and Mossad 00:10  |  TonyL 07/10/06
  84.   Clickfool # 41 01:19  |  ChanahS 07/10/06
  85.   #35 BRANT 01:21  |  ron 07/10/06
  86.   Clickfool-#20-Just another Mossad trick 03:11  |  Daniel Leopold 07/10/06
  87.   Islam = violence =Muhammed 04:09  |  John 07/10/06