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Paris court gives 1980 synagogue bomber life sentence
PARIS (JTA) — Over 42 years after a bomb killed four and injured dozens outside the Rue Copernic synagogue, a court here has convicted a Lebanese-Canadian academic of the crime and given him a life sentence.
Hassan Diab, now a Canadian citizen, was convicted in absentia on Friday after more than a decade of start and stop legal proceedings. An arrest warrant has been issued but there were no immediate signs that Canada would agree to an extradition.
The bombing, which took place on Oct. 3, 1980, was understood to be the first fatal antisemitic attack in France since the Holocaust. Hundreds of thousands joined historically large protests in its wake.
After authorities initially thought the bombing was carried out by neo-Nazis, they issued an arrest warrant for Diab — believed to be a former member of a dissident group called the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-Special Operations — in 2008. He was extradited from Canada in 2014, indicted in Paris and imprisoned.
But in a surprise to many, his case was dismissed in 2018, allowing him to return to Canada. Prosecutors appealed, leading to another surprising turn of events in 2021 as the court upheld the earlier decision, directing Diab to stand trial.
Over the course of five hours on Friday, prosecutor Benjamin Chambre said: “It is the honor of the French judicial and police institutions to have persevered… It is a strong signal: France does not abdicate in the face of terrorism.”
His hours of requisitions were followed by as many hours of defense pleadings. “I am here before you to avoid a miscarriage of justice,” said Diab’s attorney William Bourdon. He argued there was “no material element” and “no proof” of the Diab’s presence in France at the time of the attack.
“Even 43 years later, this trial had to take place,” said Bernard Cahen, one of multiple lawyers advocating for the victims’ families, said during the trial.
The new trial took place after a decade of other antisemitic attacks on communal targets and individuals, which in total caused many French Jews to feel afraid, both about their personal vulnerability and about the state’s commitment to their safety. French-Jewish immigration to Israel increased significantly after the attack on a kosher supermarket in Paris in 2015.
Jean-François Bensahel, president of the Copernic synagogue, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency last month that the 1980 bombing was “engraved in our community’s history.”
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Tidbits: Traces of a ghetto bunker uncovered in Będzin, Poland
Tidbits is a Forverts feature of easy news briefs in Yiddish that you can listen to or read, or both! If you read the article and don’t know a word, just click on it and the translation appears. Listen to the report here:
אַ גרופּע אַרכעאָלאָגן, וואָס האָט געהאַלטן אין מיטן אויסגראָבן אַ בונקער פֿון דער צווייטער וועלט־מלחמה אינעם פּוילישן שטעטל בענדין, האָט אַנטדעקט שפּורן פֿון אַן אונטערערדישן באַהעלטעניש און טונעל, וואָס ייִדן האָבן געניצט קעמפֿנדיק קעגן די דײַטשן אין 1943.
„מיר האָבן אַנטדעקט שטיינערנע טרעפּ, וואָס פֿירן אַרײַן אין אַ באַהעלטעניש אונטער אַן אַמאָליקער געבײַדע,“ האָט די אַרכעאָלאָגישע פֿירמע „וויקאָפּ נאַ פּאָזיאָמיע“ געמאָלדן אויף פֿייסבוק. זיי האָבן אויך אַנטדעקט אַ טונעל, וואָס האָט געדינט ווי אַ זיכער אָרט אונטער ד׳רערד.
די אַרכעאָלאָגן האָבן געזאָגט, אַז זיי האָבן זיך געריכט צו געפֿינען „אַרכעאָלאָגישע עלעמענטן“ אָבער זענען געווען דערשטוינט, וואָס אַלץ האָט זיך אַזוי גוט פֿאַרהיט. אינעם טונעל קען מען נאָך זען די פֿריִערדיקע הילצערנע פּאָדליגע און שפּורן פֿון די ווענט.
דער בונקער איז גלײַך לעבן דעם „הויז פֿון די געטאָ־קעמפֿער“, וואָס געפֿינט זיך הײַנט אויף 24 רוטקאַ־לאַסקיער גאַס. בשעת דער צווייטער וועלט־מלחמה, ווען די נאַציס האָבן פֿאַרטריבן די ייִדן אין געטאָ, איז דער בנין געוואָרן דאָס געהיימע פֿאַרזאַמלונג־אָרט פֿון די ציוניסטישע יוגנט־גרופּעס און דער „ייִדישער קאַמף־אָרגאַניזאַציע“. די מיטגלידער פֿון דער אָרגאַניזאַציע, מיט פֿרומקע פּלאָטניצקאַ בראש, האָבן דורכגעפֿירט אַ ווידערשטאַנד אין אויגוסט 1943, בעת די דײַטשן האָבן אָנגעפֿירט מיט די לעצטע דעפּאָרטאַציעס און מיט דער פֿאַרטיליקונג פֿונעם געטאָ. דרײַ טעג האָבן די ייִדן געקעמפֿט, ביז די דײַטשן האָבן דעם ווידערשטאַנד אײַנגעבראָכן.
אין 2024 האָט די צוקערמאַן גייט פֿונדאַציע געקויפֿט דאָס אייגנס, כּדי דאָרט צו בויען אַן אָנדענק־מוזיי. די פֿונדאַציע איז שוין יאָרן לאַנג אַקטיוו אין בענדין און האַלט דאָרט אויף אַ פּריוואַטע שיל אין אַ טעמעמענט־בנין.
לייענט דעם אַרטיקל אויף ענגליש.
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Netanyahu, IDF condemn Israeli soldier’s bludgeoning of Jesus statue in Lebanon
(JTA) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is denouncing an incident in which a soldier bludgeoned a statue of Jesus in southern Lebanon, igniting criticism at a time when some Christians believe Israel discriminates against them.
A photograph of the incident spread widely on Sunday after being shared by a prominent Palestinian journalist, Younis Tirawi. The photograph shows a soldier in an Israel Defense Forces uniform smashing a statue of Jesus, which has fallen from its cross and is lying partially on the ground.
The IDF said it had examined the photograph and determined that it was real. “The IDF views the incident with great severity and emphasizes that the soldier’s conduct is wholly inconsistent with the values expected of its troops,” it said in a statement.
Netanyahu said the photograph had shocked him.
“Yesterday, like the overwhelming majority of Israelis, I was stunned and saddened to learn that an IDF soldier damaged a Catholic religious icon in southern Lebanon. I condemn the act in the strongest terms,” he said in a statement on Monday. “Military authorities are conducting a criminal probe of the matter and will take appropriately harsh disciplinary action against the offender.”
The incident took place in Debel, a Christian village in the region of Bint Jbeil, where Israel said it killed 150 Hezbollah operatives, including a commander, on the day before a ceasefire was imposed last week. A church in Debel posted a picture of the statue when it was intact, along with the line, spoken by Jesus in the New Testament during his crucifixion, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
The incident comes comes as Israel fends off criticism from even its allies that it is discriminating against Christians. Tensions flared last month when the Israel Police, citing wartime safety regulations, blocked top Catholic clergy from holding a Palm Sunday service in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the Old City of Jerusalem, eliciting oblique criticism from the pope. Netanyahu said in response that he had ordered that the clergy be given full access to the church.
In his statement about the statue incident, Netanyahu emphasized that Christians in the Middle East face danger from Islamic fundamentalists, including in Lebanon.
“Israel is the only country in the region that the Christian population and standard of living is growing. Israel is the only place in the Middle East that adheres to freedom of worship for all,” he said. “We express regret for the incident and for any hurt this has caused to believers in Lebanon and around the world.”
The Lebanon incident adds to a number of incidents in which Israeli soldiers have been photographed or filmed desecrating religious objects or sites in areas where they have been fighting, including in Gaza. (The IDF has urged soldiers not to take or share photographs of their activities.) The Israeli army has denounced the incidents, but even those who have resisted the most strident criticisms of Israel say a pattern is adding up.
“The lack of discipline, professional conduct, and antagonizing of Christians in Lebanon and elsewhere is an entirely unnecessary and deeply harmful behavior that will further erode support for Israel and fuel those who believe this is a religious war of conquest,” tweeted Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, a Palestinian writer and advocate in the United States who has criticized both Hamas and Israel.
The Lebanon incident also comes amid a number of incidents suggesting growing influence by religious Jewish leadership in the IDF. In recent days, soldiers were jailed for barbecuing on their base on Shabbat, when traditional Jewish law prohibits cooking; women soldiers were penalized for wearing immodest clothing to their discharge ceremonies; and the army was accused of barring women from wearing shorts while running in a race associated with the Jerusalem Marathon.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
The post Netanyahu, IDF condemn Israeli soldier’s bludgeoning of Jesus statue in Lebanon appeared first on The Forward.
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Police eye Iran involvement as 3 London synagogues are targeted in arson attacks
(JTA) — Two teenagers have been arrested in connection with an arson attack on a London synagogue on Sunday, the third within days on Jewish targets in the city.
No one was injured at Kenton United Synagogue after police said a “bottle with some sort of accelerant” was thrown through a window. A fire was extinguished before it could do significant damage.
Police offered few details about the men arrested beyond their ages, 17 and 19. But they said they saw emerging evidence that the attack and others in recent days may have been conducted in exchange for payments from Iran, which has said it would strike targets abroad in response to the U.S.-Israeli war against it.
“We’ve seen a pattern,” Matt Jukes, the police force’s deputy commissioner, said on the BBC on Monday. He said there had been 15 arrests related to incidents targeting the Jewish community in recent weeks and most appeared to be of “people taking cash as it looks like quick and easy money” to stage an attack.
Many of the attacks, including the most recent one, have been claimed by a new group, The Islamic Movement of the People of the Right Hand, that appears Iran-linked and says it is behind arsons and explosives targeting synagogues across Europe.
Jukes and Vicki Evans, the Metropolitan Police’s senior national coordination for counterterrorism, addressed the drumbeat of London attacks during a press conference on Sunday outside the Kenton synagogue. There, Evans spoke directly to Brits who might be considered as a get-rich-quick scheme.
“To anyone even considering getting involved, my message to you would be this: The stakes are high — and it is absolutely not worth the risk for a small reward,” she said. “Those tasking you will not be there when you are arrested and face court. You will be used once and thrown away without a second thought.”
The Kenton arson followed multiple other incidents in recent days. Two people were arrested after throwing bottles containing liquid at Finchley Reform Synagogue last week, and on Friday a fire was set at a nearby building that formerly held a nonprofit called Jewish Futures and still bears its sign. Suspicious material was also found near the Israeli embassy.
Last month, arsonists set fire to ambulances owned by Hatzola, an emergency service operated by a Jewish nonprofit. At least five people, including several young adults and one person who does not hold British citizenship, have been arrested in connection with the arson. Police also arrested multiple men who they said had been spying on British Jewish communities on behalf of Iran.
British Jewish leaders have responded to the incidents with growing alarm, even as police have worked to apprehend the perpetrators and calm tensions.
“A sustained campaign of violence and intimidation against the Jewish community of the UK is gathering momentum. This sustained attack on our community’s ability to worship and live in safety is an attack on the values that bind us all together,” Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis said in a statement. “Thank God, no lives have been lost, but we cannot, and must not, wait for that to change before we understand just how dangerous this moment is for all of our society.”
The Campaign Against Antisemitism, an advocacy group, criticized the government for failing to designate and ban Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist group. British lawmakers tabled a proposal to adopt such a designation, which other countries including the United States and the European Union have adopted as a tool to fight Iran’s malign influence, earlier this year.
“It is shocking that concern for the sensitivities of a violent Iranian regime is more important to the Government than the welfare of Jewish people in this country,” the Campaign Against Antisemitism said.
And the Board of Deputies, a group representing Jewish communities, urged British Jews to follow security guidelines and vowed to defy the violence.
“Our community will not be intimidated by these cowardly acts of hate, which are an attack on Britain and its values, and on the security and cohesion of everyone in our country,” it said.
This article originally appeared on JTA.org.
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